J.M/ 

Id 









N 



THE CONQUEST OF 

THE SOUTHWEST 




/ 



<r- 



Copyright by S. S. McClure Co 

THE DEATH-STRUGGLE IN THE ALAMO-BOWIE' S LAST 
SHOT. 



THE CONQUEST OF 

THE SOUTHWEST 

THE STORY OF A 
GREAT SPOLIATION 

BY 
CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY, LL.D. 

AUTHOR OF 

"commodore JOHN PAUL JONES," "STEPHEN DECATUR," 

"AMERICAN FIGHTS AND FIGHTERS SERIES," 

"REUBEN JAMES," ETC. 

ILLUSTRATED 




D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK 

1905 






LIBRARY ot }')f3KESS 

FEB 17 iy05 

CUiSS ly AAC Not 
COPY -fa. 



COPTRIGHT, 1905, BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



Published February, 1905 



DEDICATED 

IN GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION 

TO THAT 

DISCRIMINATING AND IMPARTIAL CRITIC 

MY WARM-HEARTED AND GENEROUS 

FRIEND 

JOHN FRANCIS NICHOLS 



PREFACE 



So far as I know there is no book devoted 
entirely and specifically to the subject of this 
monograph, unless it be Jay's Review, re- 
ferred to below, which has long been out of 
print. We have general histories in which 
the subject is treated at more or less length; 
and special histories, as of Texas or of the 
Mexican War, or of Slavery, in great num- 
ber ; as well as many biographies of the prin- 
cipal actors in the transactions hereinafter 
described. But there is no book with which 
I am acquainted which begins with the 
Treaty of 1819 and closes with the Compro- 
mise of 1850. 

Of the four most memorable periods in our 
vii 



PREFACE 

national history, including (1) the Revolution 
and the foundation of the Government, (2) 
the Conquest of the Southwest, (3) the Civil 
War, and (4) the new complexion put upon 
our relations with the rest of the world by 
the Spanish- American War and its immediate 
results, of which we are still a part, with the 
future not quite determined, the one here 
under discussion was not the least interesting 
or important. I hope, therefore, amid the 
many books on American history a place and 
a welcome may be found for this one. 

In the preparation of this essay I have 
ransacked a vast number of books and docu- 
ments, published and unpublished. In notes 
in the body of the work I have taken care to 
give references to the authorities for state- 
ments about which there is liable to be any 
question or dispute. A complete bibliography 
of the period would include so great a num- 
viii 



PREFACE 

ber of titles that it would be out of place in 
a book of this kind. I may, however, call 
attention especially to several publications of 
great value, in addition to the widely known 
general histories. 

First and foremost of these is The Amer- 
ican Statesmen Series, perhaps the noblest in 
plan, and the ablest in results, of all the differ- 
ent series of books dealing with American his- 
tory which have yet appeared. Another series 
of great importance, especially to the student 
of military matters, is The Great Commanders 
Series. For Texas affairs a monumental, if 
little known, work in two immense volumes, en- 
titled A Comprehensive History of Texas from 
1685 to 1897, edited by Dudley G. Wooten and 
published by William H. Scarff at Dallas in 
1898, is indispensable. It contains a wealth 
of reminiscence, personal memorabilia, and 
valuable documents and papers, besides sev- 
ix 



PREFACE 

eral histories of Texas not otherwise avail- 
able. I have found it of great service. 

To these I may add William Jay's unique 
and invaluable Review of the Causes and 
Consequences of the Mexican War, Alfred M. 
Williams' Sam Houston and the War of 
Independence in Texas, General Cadmus M. 
Wilcox's History of the Mexican War, and 
The Messages and Papers of the Presidents 
of the United States, as being helpful and 
interesting. In conclusion, I take advantage 
of this opportunity to acknowledge valuable 
assistance, in searching records and verifying 
quotations and calculations, from my son, Cy- 
rus Townsend Brady, Jr. 

C. T. B. 

Brooklyn, N. Y., December 7, 1904» 



CONTENTS 



PART I 

TEXAS AND ITS INDEPENDENCE 
CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — Preliminary Discussion 1 

II. — Texas to the Close of the Fredonian War . 15 

III. — Beginnings of the Texan Revolution . . 37 

IV.— General Sam Houston 65 

V. — The Declaration of Independence — The Con- 
stitution 79 

VI.— The Alamo and Golla.d 99 

VII. — San Jacinto — The New Republic — Stephen F. 

Austin 121 

PART II 



the MEXICAN WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 

VIII. — Causes of the Mexican War .... 143 
IX. — Causes of the Mexican War, Continued — Con- 
trasting Opinions 165 

. 186 
. 305 
. 237 
. 339 
. 253 
. 271 
. 285 



X. — The Mexican War — General Taylor 
XI. The Mexican War— General Scott 
XII. — First Efforts at Negotiation 
XIII. — The Final Settlement . 
XIV.— What it Cost— A Cheaper Way . 
XV. — Concluding Remarks — Compromise of 1850 
Index . 

xi 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



TACINQ 
PAGE 

The Death-Struggle in the Alamo — Bowie's Last 
Shot ....... Frontispiece 

Portrait of General Sam Houston. F7'om an old daguer- 
reotype 68 

A View of the Alamo 102 

The Death of David Crockett 108 

Portrait of General Zachary Taylor 190 

The Capture of Monterey. From the original hy Nehel . 202 

Portrait of General Winfield Scott 208 

The Bombardment of Vera Cruz. From the original hy 

Nehel 210 

The Battle of Buena Vista. From the original hy Nehel. 214 
The Battle of Cerro Gordo. From the original painting 

hy Chappel 218 

The Storming of Chapultepec. From the original paint- 
ing hy Poivell 222 

General Scott's Entrance into IMexico. From the original 

hy Nehel 224 

MAPS AND PLANS 

The United States on March 4, 1825. Showing territory 
then owned by Mexico, but since acquired for the 
United States by conquest 18 

The Boundaries of Texas, 1819-1850 38 ' 

A Part of Texas and Northern Mexico. Showing the field 

of General Taylor's operations 188 

The Route from Vera Cruz to Mexico .... 206 

xiii 



PART I 
TEXAS AND ITS INDEPENDENCE 



CHAPTER I 
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 



CHAPTER I 

PKELIMINAKY DISCUSSION 

Fkom that Treaty of Paris in 1783 whereby 
our Independence was formally acknowledged 
by Great Britain, to that other Treaty of Paris 
in 1898 which terminated the War with Spain, 
the territory of the United States, with one 
notable exception, was increased by the peace- 
ful method of negotiation and purchase. 
Viewing the series of operations which began 
with the colonization of Texas and closed with 
the Gadsden Purchase as a single transaction, 
this one exception to the usual mode of proce- 
dure — which I call the Conquest of the South- 
west — added the largest single increment to 
the original territory, not even excepting the 
Louisiana Purchase. 

The whole proceeding may be described as 
2 3 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the story of the spoliation of a weaker power 
by a stronger, and is the one serious blot 
upon our national history. The conduct of 
the United States was wholly indefensible in 
a large part of the operations about to be 
discussed, and no truly patriotic citizen can 
think of it without an abiding sense of shame. 
Nor can our mortification be diminished by our 
recognition of the fact that in many particu- 
lars the conduct of Mexico during the period 
was an affront to civilization. 

There are three methods of accounting for 
the Conquest of the Southwest, which is the 
general name under which I include all of the 
various acts hereafter to be described. Each 
of these methods pointedly ignores the others. 
After much study and a careful consideration 
of the evidence, I have come to the conclusion 
that each is in large measure correct. Briefly 
stated, one cause for the conquest was the de- 
sire on the part of the slave-holding states to 
add new territory to the Union out of which 
other slave-holding states could be constituted 

4 



PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 

from time to time as needed, thus preserving 
the balance of power as between the slave- 
holding and the free states. 

The second cause was the jealousy, tyranny 
and misgovernment of the Mexican state of 
Texas by the Mexican authorities; their re- 
fusal to permit the American settlers to enjoy 
those privileges to which from time immemo- 
rial they had been accustomed in England and 
the United States under the common law; 'the 
attempt to keep them under the operation of 
the Roman or civil law ; and the anarchical con- 
fusion and instability of the Mexican general 
government. These brought about the inevi- 
table revolution of Texas against Mexico, in 
which the sympathy and more material assist- 
ance of the United States were freely given to 
Texas, in violation of international comity, but 
in conformity to natural relationship. The 
independence of Texas being assured, there- 
after the resulting boundary line on the west 
was ill defined, and the attempt by the United 
States, after Texas had been annexed, to de- 

5 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

limit its territory by maintaining the extreme 
Texan claim, naturally produced war. 

The third cause is admirably expressed by 
Theodore Roosevelt, who says, with regard to 
our encroachments upon the boundaries of 
neighboring powers, especially beyond the 
Mississippi and beyond the somewhat in- 
definite lines of the Louisiana Purchase: 

'* The general feeling in the West upon this last 
subject afterward crystallized into what became 
known as the ' Manifest Destiny ' idea, which, re- 
duced to its simplest terms, was: that it was our 
manifest destiny to swallow up the land of all ad- 
joining nations who were too weak to withstand us ; 
a theory that forthwith obtained immense popular- 
ity among all statesmen of easy international mo- 
rality. . . . Recent historians, for instance, al- 
ways speak as if our grasping after territory in the 
Southwest was due solely to the desire of the South- 
erners to acquire lands out of which to carve new 
slave-holding States, and as if it was merely a move 
in the interests of the slave power. This is true 
enough so far as the motives of Calhoun, Tyler, and 
the other public leaders of the Gulf and Southern 
Seaboard States were concerned. But the hearty 

6 



PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 

Western support given to the government was due 
to entirely different causes, the chief among them 
being the fact that the Westerners honestly be- 
lieved themselves to be created the heirs of the 
earth, or at least of so much of it as was known by 
the name of North America, and were prepared to 
struggle stoutly for the immediate possession of 
their heritage. ' ' ^ 

Thomas H. Benton voiced the popular feel- 
ing of his section in these fiery words, quoted 
by Roosevelt: 

^' The magnificent valley of the Mississippi is 
ours, with all its fountains, springs, and floods ; and 
woe to the statesman who shall undertake to sur- 
render one drop of its water, one inch of its soil to 
any foreign power." 

To the mind of Benton, who was accustomed 
to point westward and say, " There is the 
East, there is India," the Mississippi Valley 
doubtless transcended the Rocky Mountains 
and extended to the Pacific. 



' American Statesmen, vol. xxiii. Thomas H. Benton, by 
Theodore Roosevelt. 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

For this spoliation, the United States has 
been condemned absolutely on the one hand, 
while on the other, with equal zeal, it has been 
entirely justified. It does not seem to have 
occurred to any one that all these motives for 
action worked together to bring about the end 
achieved. And it is undoubtedly true that, 
while the preponderance of wrong-doing was 
with us, we were not entirely to blame, for 
there were some extenuating circumstances. 

It is absolutely certain — indeed, it is nowhere 
authoritatively denied, but on the contrary it 
has been affirmed many times by the people of 
the South, through their representatives, that 
they did most earnestly desire to acquire terri- 
tory south of the line of the Missouri Compro- 
mise out of which to create slave-holding 
states ; that their desire for the annexation of 
Texas was based primarily upon that possibil- 
ity ; that they prosecuted the war with Mexico 
for the avowed purpose of securing the terri- 
tory between 36° 30' (the line of the compro- 
mise) and the Rio Grande, clear to the Pacific, 

8 



PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 

in order that they might have some place of 
overflow for their slave-holding population, to 
counterbalance the possible free states in the 
upper portion of the Louisiana Purchase in 
which the bulk of that vast increment lay.^ 

It is equally obvious that such vacillation, 
such misgovernment, such exploitation of the 
public for private ends, as was exhibited by 
the Mexican government and the successive ad- 
venturers who assumed the Dictatorship dur- 
ing the earlier years of Texan history, inevita- 
bly would have produced a revolution among 
a people trained under the free and orderly 
democratic institutions of America, as the 
Texans had been. This revolution would have 

* The solidarity and the political domination of the South in 
our affairs for the first eighty years of our national existence 
is one of the most remarkable facts in our history — an Im- 
perium in Imperio! The solidarity still remains ; if a charge 
is brought against an Alabamian, for instance, the whole South 
is affronted and resentful ! When a New Yorker or a Chicagoan 
is faulted, the North or the West do not feel that they have 
been insulted. It will be good for the South, and the country, 
when the solidarity is broken ; but that will never be, I fear, 
until the negro question is settled definitely in some way. The 
political domination is ended long since. 

9 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

occurred entirely independent of the question 
of slavery. The Texan Republic must inevita- 
bly have been established if there had not been 
a slave in the United States, although the action 
of the Mexican government — one of the few 
good things to its credit, by the way — on the 
question of slavery, undoubtedly greatly in- 
creased the irritation of Texans. Nor could 
the United States be justly blamed for the sub- 
sequent annexation of the Texan territory, 
even though the prime reason for annexation 
was the possible creation of slave states, if the 
United States had stopped with annexation. 
As a matter of fact, the possession of Texas 
whetted the desire of the United States for the 
acquisition of further territory which, in pur- 
suance of that " Manifest Destiny," we took 
iniquitous and unjust means to acquire, the 
indefinite boundary line and certain shadowy 
and fictitious claims furnishing the necessary 
pretext The utter helplessness of Mexico 
after the war, rendered the seizure of Califor- 
nia easy, and that without any pretext at all. 
10 



PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 

In the whole transaction, from a legal and 
moral standpoint, Mexico occupied the correct 
position, but — and it is a singular commentary 
on that fact — Mexico had largely forfeited her 
claim to consideration by the hideous crimes 
and excesses of which she had been guilty, and 
the frightful punishments she had inflicted 
upon her victims, as well as by her failure to 
establish a stable and efficient government. I 
am sure that in the minds of the people of the 
United States there was a contempt for her 
vacillation only surpassed by the positive 
hatreds engendered by her unspeakable cruel- 
ties in Texas. For the former we might have 
had charity; to the true patriots among her 
citizens — and there were not a few — we might, 
we should, have given the help and encourage- 
ment a weak and struggling country seeking 
independence and stability has a right to ex- 
pect from a great, a free, and an enlightened 
people. 

But all these considerations were lost sight 
of in a righteous indignation over the butchery 
11 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

of the Alamo and tlie massacre at Goliad ; and 
it was felt that Mexico should be punished, 
and punished she accordingly was — by con- 
quest and robbery. In other words, the gross 
misconduct of Mexico had to a large extent 
obscured the moral issue, and by many of 
our citizens the issue therefore was not seen 
clearly. That is one of the extenuating cir- 
cumstances to which I have alluded, and per- 
haps the principal one. A nation may have 
a righteous cause and yet forfeit the good 
opinion of its neighbors by unrighteous con- 
duct in its endeavor to maintain it. 

Nor may it be gainsaid, in the light of sub- 
sequent developments, that it was vastly bet- 
ter for humanity in general and for the con- 
quered section in particular, that it should 
become a part of the United States rather 
than remain a part of Mexico. Mexico prob- 
ably never could have administered and de- 
veloped California and the West as we have 
done. And Mexico, now a homogeneous state 
south of the Rio Grande, has probably become 
12 



PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 

mucli better able to work out her destiny with- 
out the lost territory — just as Spain really 
profited by the loss of her rebellious colonies 
in 1898. 

All this, however, does not condone our 
method of acquiring the territory in question. 



13 



CHAPTER II 

TEXAS TO THE CLOSE OF THE 
FREDONIAN WAR 



CHAPTER II 

TEXAS TO THE CLOSE OF THE FKEDONIAN WAR 

Texas is the only portion of our territory 
wliieh has been under six flags — the Spanish, 
French, Mexican, Texan, Confederate and 
United States ensigns. ^^ The name of Texas 
is said by some to have had its origin in the 
greeting given De Leon by the Indians, who 
called the Spaniards ^ Tejia ' or * Tejas,' 
meaning friends. On the other hand, the ori- 
gin of the name has been ascribed by others to 
the covering of the tents or wigwams of the 
Indians, which was called Tejia (plural, 
Tejas). Hence Tejas or Texas — * The land 
of Tents.' A more correct derivation is, per- 
haps, that which traces the name to the Tejas 
Indians, a tribe formerly living between the 
Neches and the Trinity Rivers." ^ 

^ Seth Shephard : Introduction to A Comprehensive History 
of Texas. 

17 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

''If the evidence of one of the missionaries can 
be accepted — and there seems no good reason to 
the contrary — Tejas was the name, not of a single 
tribe, but of a confederacy of nearly thirty includ- 
ing nine tribes of the Asinais or Cenis. It was but 
natural that this name should be extended to the 
whole region, theretofore without one of its own. 
Neuvas Filipinas, which was for some time the 
official designation, was not sufficiently upon the 
popular tongue, and was at length displaced en- 
tirely by Texas. ' ' ^ 

The first European to set foot upon the ter- 
ritory between the Mississippi and the Rio 
Grande was a Spaniard, Alonzo Alvarez de 
Pineda, in 1519. The wanderings of Cabeza 
de Vaca led him through it in 1528. Vasquez 
de Coronado crossed it in 1540. Hernando de 
Soto entered it in 1542, and Franciscan Mis- 
sions were established among the Indians in 
1580-83 by Spanish priests. The first white 
colony was planted on its shores in Matagorda 
Bay by the heroic and unfortunate Frenchman, 

* American Commonwealths: Texas, by George P. Garrison. 

18 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, in 1685. 
Actual settlement of the country was effected 
by the Spaniards who continually thereafter 
held the territory west of the Sabine in spite 
of the expeditions and claims of France. 

In 1762 the Louisiana territory had been 
ceded to Spain by Louis XV; but in 1801 it 
was receded to France by Carlos IV, and in 
1803 was purchased by the United States. 
In these successive changes of ownership the 
western limits of this purchase were nowhere 
accurately defined. The claims of Spain ex- 
tended to the Mississippi River, those of the 
United States to the Rio Grande. A vast zone 
was thus in dispute. Practically the boundary 
was the Sabine River. West of that the 
Spanish held title, east of it the Americans. 
There was no question but that the Spaniards 
were in actual possession of the greater part 
of the territory, but that counted for little in 
the final settlement of the question. 

Several expeditions west of the Sabine, 
which were neither more nor less than filibus- 
19 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

tering enterprises, were undertaken by Ameri- 
cans during the first quarter of the last cen- 
tury. Among them the most notable were 
those of Nolan in 1801, Magee in 1812, and 
Long, who in 1821 actually declared a repub- 
lic at the Spanish settlement of Nacogdoches 
— one of the three oldest towns in Texas, the 
two others being San Antonio de Bexar and 
Goliad, or La Bahia. These three at that time 
were practically the only towns in the terri- 
tory. Some of these expeditions were of con- 
siderable magnitude, that of Magee, an of&cer 
in the United States Army, who had resigned 
his commission to lead this adventure, being 
the largest and most important. These fili- 
bustering expeditions had but one result, the 
utter devastation and ruin of the country. 
Desperate battles were fought. Magee's 
forces won several important victories, but 
after his death they were defeated with great 
slaughter ; out of eight hundred Americans in 
the final battle only ninety-three returned to 
the United States. 

20 



TEXAS TO TEE FREDONIAN WAR 

As there were Mexicans on both sides of 
these affairs, many having espoused the cause 
of the American adventurers, and thus being in 
rebellion against the Spanish government, the 
contests were marked by frightful atrocities 
and were, in effect, wars of extermination. So 
ruthlessly were the laws of war broken, that 
many of the American officers in Magee's fol- 
lowing withdrew in disgust from further par- 
ticipation in a campaign, the excesses and 
cruelties of which they were unable to moder- 
ate or to prevent, and which they were not 
willing to countenance. Prisoners were usu- 
ally murdered. Long^s Republic was quickly 
put down. Long himself was captured, taken 
a prisoner to Mexico and while in captivity 
assassinated. 

Various military commanders had attempt- 
ed to come to some temporary modus vivendi 
about the boundary. Generals Wilkinson and 
Herrera had agreed, for instance, to consider 
the territory between the Sabine and Arroyo 
Hondo as neutral ground, the Spanish gov- 
21 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

ernor being moved thereto by fear of Aaron 
Burr's proposed enterprise. 

Wilkinson, one of the meanest characters in 
our history, can not be held innocent of en- 
couraging and even inciting some of these ex- 
peditions. He was commander-in-chief of the 
American army, and, as he was stationed in 
the Southwest, he might and should have pre- 
vented them. The country had been devastated. 
In 1820 it is estimated that in the whole vast 
extent of Texas there were not above four 
thousand people exclusive of aborigines. The 
Franciscans, with heroic courage and devo- 
tion to the church, had established a chain 
of mission stations, whose chapels, churches 
and other buildings remain to-day as evidence 
of their consecration; but their missionary 
work had largely come to naught, owing to 
the frightful disorders in the country. 

The boundary question continued in the in- 
determinate state in which Wilkinson and 
Herrera had left it, until the Adams-Onis 
Treaty with Spain in 1819. By this, in return 
22 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

for the substantial cession of Florida to the 
United States, the United States relinquished 
vague and indefinite claims to certain territory- 
west of the Mississippi. The boundary be- 
tween Louisiana and the Spanish possessions 
was established by Article III as follows : 

'' The boundary line between the two countries, 
west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulph of 
Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, 
continuing north, along the western bank of that 
river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a 
line due north, to the degree of latitude where it 
strikes the Rio Eoxo of Nachitoches, or Red River ; 
then, following the course of the Rio Roxo west- 
ward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from 
London and 23 from "Washington; then, crossing 
the said Red River, and running thence, by a line 
due north, to the river Arkansas ; thence, following 
the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas, to 
its source, in latitude 42 north ; and thence, by that 
parallel of latitude, to the South Sea. The whole 
being as laid down in Melish's map of the United 
States, published at Philadelphia, improved to the 
first of January, 1818. But if the source of the 
Arkansas River shall be found to fall north or 
south of latitude 42, then the line shall run from 
23 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the said source due south or north, as the case may 
be, till it meets the said parallel of latitude 42, and 
thence, along the said parallel, to the South Sea: 
All the islands in the Sabine, and the said Red and 
Arkansas Rivers, throughout the course thus de- 
scribed, to belong to the United States ; but the use 
of the waters, and the navigation of the Sabine to 
the sea, and of the said rivers Roxo and Arkansas, 
throughout the extent of the said boundary, on 
their respective banks, shall be common to the re- 
spective inhabitants of both nations. 

* ' The two high contracting parties agree to cede 
and renounce all their rights, claims, and preten- 
sions to the territories described by the said line, 
that is to say: The United States hereby cede to 
His Catholic Majesty, and renounce forever, all 
their rights, claims, and pretensions, to the terri- 
tories lying west and south of the above-described 
line; and, in like manner. His Catholic Majesty 
cedes to the said United States all his rights, claims, 
and pretensions to any territories east and north 
of the said line, and for himself, his heirs, and suc- 
cessors, renounces all claim to the said territories 
forever. ' ' ^ 

^ Treaties and Conventions Between the United States and 
Other Powers Since July 4, 1776 : Government Printing Office, 
1871. 

24 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

The treaty was signed on February 22, 
1819, at Washington, by John Quincy Adams, 
Secretary of State, on the part of the United 
States, and Don Luis de Onis, Spanish Min- 
ister, on the part of Spain. Adams was 
justly proud of his work, and noted in his 
diary that it was "perhaps the most impor- 
tant day of my life." This treaty was not 
ratified by Spain until October 24, 1820, nor 
by the United States until March 3, 1821. 

About this time the attention of a Connecti- 
cut Yankee named Moses Austin was attracted 
to the possibilities of Texas as a home for 
colonies composed of men who were already 
American citizens. Austin was born in Dur- 
ham, Connecticut, about 1764. He emigrated 
to Wythe County, Virginia, while yet a young 
man, and engaged in mining, but without much 
success. There, in 1793, his son Stephen 
Fuller was born. Moses Austin was a slave- 
holder. In 1797, with his family and slaves, 
he moved to the Louisiana territory and con- 
tinued in the mining business with somewhat 
25 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

better success tlian before, at Mine-a-Burton, 
afterward Potosi, about forty miles west of 
St. Genevieve in what is now Missouri. 

Austin had the Puritan passion for educa- 
tion and the means to gratify it. He sent his 
son to the best schools and colleges in that part 
of the country in which he lived. In 1820 he 
went to Texas to obtain permission, if possible, 
to introduce American colonists. He applied 
to the Spanish provincial governor at Bexar, 
but was rebuffed and ordered to return imme- 
diately to the United States. 

Preparing to comply with this command, he 
happened to meet an acquaintance who knew 
him personally and by reputation as a man 
of honor and probity. This was a German 
soldier of fortune, the Baron de Bastrop, who 
was then in the service of the Spanish govern- 
ment. The meeting was a chance one. Here 
again, we see how much depends upon acci- 
dent! The discouraged American promoter 
and the German free-lance, running across 
each other without design, changed the course 

26 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

of history in that part of the continent. 
Through the influence of the Baron de Bastrop, 
Austin got a further hearing from the Spanish 
governor, when his project was received with 
favor and a message was despatched to the 
Spanish viceroy at Mexico asking his consent. 
Austin waited a long time for his reply, and as 
it did not come, and as his affairs at home 
needed his attention, he left the country for 
Missouri. On his return journey he suffered 
great hardships and died shortly after he 
reached his home, but not until he learned 
that his petition had been granted. 

Austin's son Stephen at that time had gone 
to New Orleans to look after the affairs of the 
colonists whom it was hoped he and his father 
might be able to introduce into Texas, when 
to him was brought the news that the desired 
permission had been given. It was decreed 
by the Spanish government that all the colo- 
nists should be of the Roman Catholic re- 
ligion, and that they should be people of good 
character who would make worthy subjects of 
27 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the King of Spain, to whom they were re- 
quired to take the oath of allegiance. Each 
male colonist over twenty-one years of age was 
to be allowed six hundred and forty acres. If 
he were married, he was to have three hundred 
and twenty additional acres for his wife, one 
hundred and sixty for each child, and eighty 
for each slave. Thus the introduction of sla- 
very into the territory was legally permitted 
at the very beginning. The promoter of the 
enterprise, who was called the Empresario, 
was to have large grants of land, which were 
to become his own holdings, and depending in 
area upon the number of families he intro- 
duced. Each family was required to pay the 
Empresario a trifling sum per acre for the 
grants he received, in order to provide for the 
necessary expenses of the undertaking, which 
the Empresario himself assumed. 

Austin, who was a man of parts and 
energy, took up his father's project vigorously 
and led his first colonists into Texas in Decem- 
ber, 1821. In the spring of 1822, Mexico 

28 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

threw oft' her allegiance to Spain and became 
an independent country. It was necessary, 
therefore, for Austin to go to the capital at 
once in order to secure a reaffirmation of his 
grant from the new government. By the 
time he reached the city of Mexico, Augustin 
de Iturbide had made himself Emperor. On 
February 18, 1823, after some difficulty, the 
decree was reaffirmed, with such alterations 
as had been made necessary by the political 
changes of the country, but in all the essential 
particulars it was confirmed by Iturbide. 

Before Austin could leave for Texas, there 
occurred another revolution in Mexico, and 
Iturbide was deposed. Mexico became a re- 
public with a triumvirate, composed of Ne- 
grete, Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria, as the 
temporary executive, while the congress busied 
itself with making a constitution under which 
the government should be established and con- 
ducted. As the sessions of this congress were 
protracted, Austin realized that it would be 
some time before he could get anything from 
29 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

it, and so appealed to the triple executive for 
a second reaffirmation of his charter, which he 
received on the 14th of April, 1823. 

There was one difference between the first 
charter of the Spanish government and that 
issued by the Emperor Iturbide and confirmed 
by the triumvirate. In the latter it was stated 
that in Texas there should be "no sale or pur- 
chase of slaves and that children of slaves born 
in the Empire were to be free at fourteen years 
of age." This provision would have brought 
about the gradual and orderly abolition of 
slavery. The colonists do not appear to have 
been greatly troubled by these restrictions. 

Having thus made himself secure against 
any contingency, Austin went back and found- 
ed the town of San Felipe de Austin in the 
summer of 1823 on the Little Brazos River. 
Thereafter he busied himself in introducing 
settlers as rapidly as possible. It is not pre- 
tended that these settlers were all Roman 
Catholics. In fact, it is certain that the great 
majority were not. But they quietly submit- 

30 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

ted to the official ministrations of the jolly and 
complaisant Irish priests, who did not scru- 
tinize their conduct too closely, and meanwhile 
unobtrusively practised their own religion, if 
Protestant it was, unmolested. They brought 
slaves with them too, and bought and sold 
them as they deemed proper. 

Meanwhile, the Mexican Federal Constitu- 
tion had been completed and adopted on the 
31st of January, 1824, although it was not pro- 
mulgated until the following October. With 
certain important differences, it was patterned 
largely after that of the United States. There 
was a failure, on the one hand, to provide for 
the right of trial by jury ; and, on the other, the 
Eoman Catholic religion was established as 
the only religion permitted in the Republic, 
while congress was made the interpreter of 
the constitution instead of the courts. The 
old province of Texas was joined to that of 
Coahuila, and the whole created a state under 
the name of Coahuila-Texas. A very unfortu- 
nate junction this turned out to be, since the 
31 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

seat of government naturally was placed in 
Coahuila, whose population greatly exceeded 
that of Texas, and Texas was thereby made a 
dependency of the Mexican half of the joint 
state. The Texans, with only two delegates in 
the state legislature, had practically no voice in 
their own government, even under the consti- 
tution, such as it was. 

In the mean time, encouraged by Austin's 
success, other Empresarios had solicited and 
received similar charters and grants, and 
a steady stream of colonists was rapidly 
poured into Texas. Over twenty-five hundred 
families entered in one year alone (1825) ; and 
by 1830 it is estimated that there were twenty 
thousand Americans in Texas, most of whom 
had come from the Southern States and had 
brought slaves with them. 

On the 13th of January, 1824, the Mexican 
government forbade the further importation 
of slaves from foreign states; in 1827, the 
state constitution of Coahuila-Texas gave 
freedom to children born of slave parents after 

32 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

that date, and reaffirmed the national law of 
1824. On September 15, 1829, Guerrero, then 
the President or Dictator, published a decree 
abolishing slavery in the territory of the Mexi- 
can Republic, which was immediately ratified 
by the congress then in session. The Texans 
protested against this decree, and in conse- 
quence the department of Texas was exempted 
from its operation on December 2, 1829. In 
passing, it may be remarked that all these 
enactments regarding slavery were aimed at 
Texas, inasmuch as the only slavery worth 
mentioning in Mexico existed in Texas among 
the American colonists. 

These various restrictions produced great 
dissatisfaction among the Texans. Indeed, 
a similar dissatisfaction had culminated sev- 
eral years before in what had been called the 
Fredonian War — an earnest of what might 
be expected later on. 

Hayden and Benjamin Edwards, Empresa- 
rios, who had received their grants not from 
the general government, but from Coahuila- 
4 33 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

Texas, had endeavored to establish a colony 
near Nacogdoches. Grave dissensions oc- 
curred among the colonists, because of which, 
and of the conflicting claims of Mexican and 
other settlers, who had already become estab- 
lished in the territory when it was granted to 
Edwards, the Edwards grant was arbitrarily 
withdrawn. The trouble thus engendered 
culminated at Nacogdoches on December 
16, 1826, in the proclamation by Benjamin 
Edwards and fifteen of his adherents, of 
an independent republic which they called 
Fredonia. 

The old stone fort in the town was taken 
possession of without resistance; a govern- 
ment was organized and an alliance with the 
Indians against Mexico was made. These 
allies were to share between them the terri- 
tory to the Rio Grande. Appeals were made 
to American settlers in Texas and to the 
United States for countenance and support. 

Austin's colonists at that time had no cause 
for complaint against Mexico. No general 

34 



TEXAS TO THE FREDONIAN WAR 

sympathy, indeed, was aroused in behalf of 
the abortive attempt at revolution. Austin, 
in fact, as commander of the militia, gathered 
a force to cooperate with the Mexican authori- 
ties in putting it down. There occurred a 
skirmish on January 4, 1827 — the first con- 
flict between the colonists and the Mexican 
government — in which the Fredonians had 
one man wounded, and the Mexicans one 
killed and several wounded. The Mexicans 
were defeated, but returned with reinforce- 
ments accompanied by Austin's men. In the 
face of such a force and without public opinion 
to sustain them, there was but one thing for 
the Fredonians to do. Nacogdoches had to be 
abandoned and the republic dissolved. The 
war was soon over, and at the instance of 
Austin, the Mexicans released the few prison- 
ers taken, doing them no harm — the one case 
of such clemency on record. 

The Fredonian Republic had been a prema- 
ture movement. The body of colonists in 
Texas had not yet felt the effects of Mexican 
35 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

misgovernment in ways sufficiently serious to 
move them to join in an attempt for independ- 
ence. At the same time, the territory had 
been in a state of more or less ferment all 
the time. 



86 



CHAPTER III 

BEGINNINGS OF THE TEXAN 
REVOLUTION 



CHAPTER in 

BEGINNINGS OP THE TEXAN EEVOLUTION 

Late in 1829 General Bustamante, then the 
Vice-President of Mexico, deposed President 
Guerrero, and on January 1, 1830, took the 
reins of government. Bustamante was a 
strong centralizationist and determined to re- 
duce the states of the republic to the level of 
provinces, ruled by military governors who 
were devoted to himself. Especially did he 
desire to curb the restive Texans. On April 
6, 1830, the Mexican congress, on the initiative 
of Secretary of State Alaman, passed a decree, 
the terms of which were felt by the Texans to 
be unusually oppressive. It was a measure to 
raise revenue by import duties and to colonize 
Texas with Mexicans by making it a penal 
settlement, giving the convicts the privilege 
of citizenship when their terms of punishment 
39 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

had expired, thus introducing a class of citizens 
entirely unworthy of civic honors and utterly 
repugnant to the colonists. Its most drastic 
and irritating provisions, however, were that 
it stopped further colonization from the Unit- 
ed States and forbade the introduction of 
slaves into Mexico. In pursuance of this de- 
sign and to enforce this decree. General Teran, 
with a considerable body of troops, was sent 
to Texas for an armed occupation of the ter- 
ritory. Garrisons were established through- 
out the country and every Mexican military 
outpost at once became a constant source of 
irritation to the colonists. The decree was 
rigorously enforced. 

The six-year limit, during which supplies 
for the colonists, by the terms of the original 
grants, might be imported free of duty, had 
now expired. It was determined that Texas 
thenceforth should make large contributions 
to the revenues of the necessitous general gov- 
ernment. It usually happens that a privilege 
habitually enjoyed soon becomes regarded as 
40 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

a right. The Texans objected to paying du- 
ties — as modern travelers do! — but in vain. 
Texan ports of entry were closed with the ex- 
ception of Anahuac, over which one Brad- 
burn, a renegade Kentuckian, was made com- 
mander. This was an inconvenient port for 
most colonists, and by threats and appeals 
they succeeded in having Brazoria reopened. 

Bradburn conducted himself in Anahuac 
with shocking brutality and unwarranted li- 
cense, going at last so far as to imprison, for 
alleged insubordination, a number of settlers 
including William B. Travis, who afterward 
ihimortalized himself at the Alamo. Brad- 
burn actually assumed, in May, 1832, to put the 
whole coast under martial law. To add to the 
irritation, the legislature of Coahuila-Texas, 
which was all Mexican, passed certain highly 
obnoxious laws, granting allotments of terri- 
tories to Mexicans over the heads of Ameri- 
cans who already occupied the ground under 
previous concessions. 

The situation was rapidly becoming impos- 
41 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

sible of continuance. The growing anger of 
the people, in May, 1832, culminated in the in- 
vestment of Anahuac and an attack upon 
Velasco. The latter town was held by Colonel 
Ugartechea with one hundred and twenty-five 
men, and it was attacked by one hundred and 
twelve Texans and a small schooner, the 
Brazoria, commanded by John Austin, a Con- 
necticut Yankee, who was not related to the 
great Empresario. Although Ugartechea dis- 
played magnificent courage in defense of his 
charge, the place was stormed, with a loss to 
the Mexicans of thirty-five killed and fifteen 
wounded, and to the Texans of seven killed 
and twenty-seven wounded. Texas had been 
divided into three military departments, and 
the commander of the department of Nacog- 
doches, Colonel Piedras, finally took over 
Bradburn's command, and, at the demand of 
the colonists, released Travis and his fellow 
prisoners. Bradburn fled for his life to the 
United States, and the siege of Anahuac was 
raised. 

42 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who was 
destined to play so great and yet so ignoble a 
part in the Southwest, now enters the history of 
Texas. As I have said elsewhere, " this petty 
' Napoleon of the West,' as he loved to style 
himself, was a scoundrel as black-hearted as 
any that ever schemed himself into power. 
Born at Jalapa, in Mexico, in 1795, he had 
been successively a lieutenant-colonel in the 
Spanish Army, an adherent of and traitor to 
Iturbide, the diaholus ex machina of succes- 
sive revolutions with different presidents and 
dictators. In short, he was a sort of sub- 
tropic Warwick! He was not without some 
of the qualities of a soldier, and certainly 
knew how, again and again, to win the confi- 
dence of his countrymen, in spite of their fre- 
quent repudiations of him, in his long and 
eventful career." ^ 

Santa Anna professed to be the champion 
of the constitution of 1824, which Bustamante 

* In my book American Fights and Fighters — Border. 
McClure, Phillips & Co. 

43 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

had practically abolished. When the colonists 
rose in arms, therefore, they seized the oppor- 
tunity, and in resolutions declared themselves 
adherents of Santa Anna and the constitution. 
These resolutions were passed on June 13, 
1832, at a place called Turtle Bayou, and are 
therefore known as the Turtle Bayou Reso- 
lutions. When Santa Anna's commissioner, 
Mexia, reached the country, this proclamation 
stood the colonists in good stead. Santa 
Anna was fighting for supremacy and wanted 
help; he was more than gratified at the posi- 
tion of the Texans. The struggle between him 
and Bustamante also affected the Texans fa- 
vorably in that the troops of Teran, with the 
exception of Piedras' command at Nacog- 
doches, declared in favor of Santa Anna and 
withdrew from Texas to participate in the 
struggle in Mexico. Piedras' troops finally 
deposed him, handed him over to the Texans, 
and marched to join Santa Anna, thus leaving 
no Mexican troops in Texas. 

The opportunity was too good to be neg- 
44 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

lected. A convention to consider local affairs 
was called on August 22, 1832, and met at 
San Felipe de Austin on the first of October 
following. Fifty delegates were present, and 
Austin was elected President. Austin repre- 
sented the conservatives and those who were 
called the Peace Party. His principal antag- 
onist was William H. Wharton, who repre- 
sented the War Party. Austin's influence, 
however, was paramount, and the measures 
proposed by him were carried. The conven- 
tion repudiated the idea that Texas was seek- 
ing independence from Mexico ; petitioned for 
the recall of the decree of 1830, which forbade 
immigration; asked for free trade for three 
more years, and finally requested a separate 
state government for Texas. 

The struggle between Santa Anna and 
Bustamante had been terminated by mutual 
agreement and the temporary election of Gen- 
eral Pedraza as President of the Mexican 
Eepublic. This was substantially a victory 
for Santa Anna, and when the time for the 
45 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

regular election arrived he was made President 
of the Republic on January 19, 1833. The 
Texans, believing that Santa Anna repre- 
sented what he professed, now called a second 
convention which met on the first of April, 
1833, and drafted a state constitution. The 
chairman of the committee on the constitution 
was Samuel Houston. 

As indicating the changed spirit of the peo- 
ple at this time, Wharton, representing the 
former War Party, was made president of 
the convention. Austin, who was the best 
bred, best educated and most influential man 
in the colonies, and the only one probably who 
could speak Spanish with fluency and facility, 
was appointed chairman of a committee to 
go to the City of Mexico and lay the consti- 
tution before Santa Anna and the Mexican 
congress — ^which the new President was ex- 
pected to reestablish in its proper relation to 
the government — for ratification. The only 
one of the committee who went to the capital 
was Austin. He tried for six months to get 
46 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

Santa Anna or the congress to take action, but 
without success. In December, 1833, he wrote 
home that he had met with no success and ad- 
vised Texans to meet and establish the consti- 
tution on their own account. 

This letter, unfortunately, fell into the hands 
of Vice-President Farias, who was acting as 
President during a temporary and voluntary 
withdrawal of Santa Anna from the seat of 
government. Austin, who had started on his 
return to Texas, was pursued and arrested at 
Saltillo, and then taken back to the City of 
Mexico and placed in close confinement. He 
was actually imprisoned in a dungeon of the 
ex-Inquisition for three months, without being 
allowed to communicate with any one, and was 
even denied the use of books and writing 
materials. He was then imprisoned for nine 
months in the state prison, and thereafter 
detained for one year in Mexico under bail 
of three hundred thousand dollars. During 
these imprisonments he with difficulty sur- 
vived an attack of cholera. Austin was finally 
5 47 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

released under a general amnesty act, and at 
once set out for Texas, his petition, of course, 
having been refused. 

Austin reached the mouth of the Brazos on 
the first of August, 1835, in the schooner San 
Felipe from New Orleans. The Mexican 
armed schooner Correo, commanded by one 
Thompson, an Englishman in the service of 
Mexico, at that time was cruising off the 
mouth of the river. Thompson had already 
made himself thoroughly obnoxious to the 
colonists, and now fired on the San Felipe. 
Captain Hurd, of the American vessel, who 
had armed his crew and passengers with 
muskets, opened fire on the Correo and drove 
from the decks the crew, with the exception 
of Thompson, who put up his helm and ran 
off. Austin having landed, a little steam- 
boat called the Laura, which was coming out 
from Quintana, was impressed and directed to 
tow the San Felipe after the Correo. The 
Correo having been becalmed, the San Felipe 
was hauled alongside of her and the Mexican 

48 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

schooner captured. Thompson was sent to 
New Orleans to be tried for piracy. 

It has been affirmed ' that during Austin's 
detention in Mexico Anthony Butler, the 
United States Minister to Mexico, who was 
associated with a powerful land company of 
Americans and English, also tried to get a ter- 
ritorial government established in Texas, but 
for purposes with which the majority of the 
colonists could not be in sympathy. If this 
had been brought about, the Mexican govern- 
ment would naturally have controlled all the 
vacant land, placing it at the disposal of con- 
gress. The company referred to had pro- 
posed to purchase this land and Butler had 
been instructed to offer as much as ten mil- 
lion dollars for it, with the understanding that 
no previous titles to any portion of it should 
be respected, except those of Austin and his 
colonists. This, if carried out, would arbi- 

' Private Papers of Anthony Butler, quoted by Colonel Guy 
M. Bryan in A Comprehensive History of Texas, vol. i, p. 500. 
I give the story for what it is worth. It certainly seems some- 
what improbable on several counts. 

49 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

trarily and unjustly have dispossessed the 
majority of the colonists who in good faith 
had settled in Texas. It was further to be un- 
derstood between the contracting parties that, 
on the final payment of this sum of money, 
the Texan territory was to be ceded to the 
United States, and when the United States 
took possession all land except that of Austin 
and his colonists should remain in possession 
of the said company. 

Austin opposed the creation of a territorial 
government on this basis. Although his own 
colonists were to be exempt from any ill conse- 
quences, he knew that cruel injustice would re- 
sult to colonists who had been brought in by 
other empresarios, and he managed through 
his influence to defeat the bill. It is alleged 
that he was offered one million dollars for his 
interest in Texas if he would withdraw his op- 
position. The offer was indignantly refused. 

The United States had been most anxious 
to acquire the territory between the Sabine 
and the Rio Grande. On the 15th of March 
50 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

1827, through the American Minister, Joel R. 
Poinsett, it had offered Mexico one million 
dollars for it. Mexico promptly refused the 
offer and insisted upon the limits of the 
Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 before entering 
into any relation whatever with the United 
States. In 1829 this formal offer had been 
increased to five million dollars, and subse- 
quently ten millions was proposed as a loan, 
with Texas as security. All this time Butler, 
under the explicit directions of Andrew Jack- 
son, was openly working for the purchase. 

Austin's return had been awaited with the 
greatest interest by the colonists. It is prob- 
able that, had they not feared to endanger his 
life while he was imprisoned in Mexico, they 
would long since have broken out in open 
rebellion. Indeed, in 1835, the irrepressible 
Travis had actually expelled by force the new 
garrison of Anahuac, commanded by one Te- 
norio. On arrival home, Austin was immedi- 
ately invited to address the citizens of Texas 
at Brazoria. There, on September 13th, he 
51 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

reported the result of his negotiations. He 
described the treatment he had received; dis- 
closed what he had been able to discern of the 
intentions of the Mexican government; ad- 
vised the Texans, through regularly appointed 
deputies, to meet in consultation at some cen- 
tral point and decide upon a course of action ; 
and that meanwhile a state military force be 
organized, equipped and placed in the field 
ready for action. In his impressive address 
at Brazoria Austin used these significant 
words : " War is our only recourse. There 
is no other. We must defend our rights, our- 
selves, and our country 'by force of arms." 

It was Santa Anna's purpose, so far as 
anybody could discover it, to abrogate the 
Constitution of 1824, whose protector he had 
formerly posed to be ; to make himself Dicta- 
tor and reduce the states to the level of 
dependencies, which were to be held under 
military garrisons commanded by creatures of 
his own. His program differed from that 
of Bustamante, whom he had supplanted, 
52 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

only in being more drastic. The only local 
government then in Texas was that of Coa- 
huila, which was busily engaged in selling 
Texan land to irresponsible parties at two 
cents per acre — notwithstanding the existing 
grants and colonists in actual possession. 
At the same time nothing was being done for 
the protection of Texas from the Indians, nor 
for its educational development. 

There had been a bitter struggle going on 
for some time between Saltillo and Monclova 
as to which should be the capital of Coahuila- 
Texas. In this contest Texas had little inter- 
est and took no part, although in its final set- 
tlement she suffered greatly. Santa Anna, 
taking advantage of the dissension, despatched 
a force under General Cos, his brother-in- 
law, to regulate matters. The legislature of 
Coahuila was promptly abolished and Viesca, 
the governor, was imprisoned. This left 
Texas without even the semblance of a state 
government. It was the first step in Santa 
Anna's plan for the establishment of military 
53 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

satrapies. The colonists at once organized 
committees of safety and enrolled themselves 
into companies to withstand the Indians, who 
were becoming bold and troublesome. The 
whole state was in a condition of nnrest, and 
even of ferment. 

Santa Anna's reply to the Texans was 
prompt. About the middle of September 
General Cos landed at Corpus Christi and 
marched to Bexar with five hundred troops. 
Affairs moved rapidly. A decree had been 
promulgated by the Mexican Dictator, requir- 
ing the immediate disarmament of Texas. To 
take their rifles away from men who lived 
largely by hunting, and whose sole defense 
against the Indians lay in their weapons, was 
to ask them to commit suicide. The Texans 
refused positively to give up their guns. The 
Mexicans were determined. By direction of 
Cos, Colonel Ugartechea sent a demand to the 
people of the settlement of Gonzales for the 
immediate surrender of a six-pounder cannon, 
which had been given them by the authorities 
54 



TEE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

at Bexar to fight Indians with. The Texans 
replied to the Mexicans as Leonidas did to a 
similar request from the Persians. If Ugarte- 
chea wanted the cannon he must come and take 
it. Ugartechea thereupon sent a troop of cav- 
alry to take it by force. 

On the second of October, at four o'clock in 
the morning, these soldiers, numbering per- 
haps a hundred, were attacked by one hundred 
and sixty-eight Texans, under the command of 
John H. Moore, who had become famous for 
his skill in fighting the Indians. The battle 
was a mere skirmish. The Texans fired and 
charged. The Mexicans fired and fled. The 
Texan loss was nothing, and the Mexicans had 
a small number killed. The war of independ- 
ence had begun. Singularly enough, it was 
precipitated exactly as the war of independ- 
ence in the United States had been, by an effort 
to seize munitions of war in the possession of 
colonists. The skirmish at Gonzales was to 
Texas what the skirmish at Lexington was to 
the United States. 

55 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

The news of the Gonzales affair spread rap- 
idly throughout western Texas. The first blow 
had been struck, and enthusiastic bodies of 
men at once repaired to the seat of war. The 
several military companies already assembled 
under command of Colonel Moore, and those 
other companies which joined them, estab- 
lished a sort of military council, consisting of 
one representative from each company, some- 
what as the Greeks did before Marathon! 
On the 11th of October, this council elected 
Stephen F. Austin commander-in-chief of the 
Texan forces. 

Before this election the fort at Goliad, some- 
times called La Bahia, had been seized by a 
handful of Texans under Captain Chilling- 
worth, with whom Benjamin R. Milam was 
associated as a volunteer. This capture was 
very fortunate, as it put the Texans in pos- 
session of three hundred stand of arms and 
valuable military supplies worth at least ten 
thousand dollars. 

Austin, although he was a sick man, and in 
56 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

no condition to stand the fatigues of a cam- 
paign, at once assumed command, despatched 
parties in various directions to seize different 
points held by Mexicans, and with a constantly 
increasing army numbering now about three 
hundred and fifty, moved eastward toward 
San Antonio de Bexar, where General Cos had 
his headquarters. On the 27th of October, 
Austin despatched Colonel James Bowie and 
Captain J. W. Fannin with ninety-eight men 
to select a suitable spot for a permanent 
camp whence he could prosecute his opera- 
tions against San Antonio. 

James Bowie was a Georgian, who has be- 
come famous as the inventor of the terrible 
knife which bears his name. He had acquired 
great notoriety from a duel fought with Major 
Norris Wright, on a Mississippi sand-bar, 
where the seconds and spectators became in- 
volved in a general melee, in the course of 
which Bowie killed his antagonist with a 
weapon made from a large file. Bowie him- 
self was desperately wounded, as were other 
57 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

participants in the fight, and a second man 
was killed. After the battle, a blacksmith, or 
cutler, shaped this sanguinary file into the 
weapon which became known as the Bowie 
knife. Shortly after this duel, Bowie came 
to Texas. Yoakum, in his History of Texas, 
thus describes him: 

* * He was about six feet high, of fair complexion, 
with small blue eyes, not fleshy, but well-propor- 
tioned ; he stood quite erect, and had a rather fierce 
look ; was not quarrelsome but mild and quiet, even 
at the moment of action. He was quite sociable, 
and somewhat disposed to intemperance, but never 
drunk. He had a wonderful art in winning people 
to him, and was extremely prodigal of his money. 
His muscular power was as great as his daring ; his 
brother says he had been known to rope and ride 
alligators! His great speculation was in purchas- 
ing negroes from Lafitte and smuggling them into 
Louisiana. This is the most unpleasant feature in 
his history. He had married a daughter of Vera- 
mendi, and under his auspices went to Saltillo 
to estabhsh a cotton and woolen manufactory. 
With this view, the legislature naturalized him, and 
granted him a charter. ' ' 

58 



THE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

J. W. Fannin was an enthusiastic young 
man, and likewise came from Georgia, of 
which he was a native. He had gone to Texas 
in 1834, seeking his fortune, and at the out- 
break of the war had proffered his services to 
assist Texas in gaining her independence. 

The detachment commanded by Bowie and 
Fannin was attacked by a force of four hun- 
dred men at Concepcion, an old Mission station 
a mile and a half south of San Antonio. The 
fighting was close and severe. The Mexicans 
were overwhelmingly defeated with a loss of 
sixty-eight killed, including many officers, and 
a large number of wounded. The Texan loss 
was small. Austin and the main body of his 
army thereafter occupied Concepcion and the 
siege of San Antonio was prosecuted, but in a 
desultory fashion — such bodies of troops not 
being well adapted to sustained investments of 
fortified positions. 

Austin's suggestion at Brazoria that there 
should be a consultation as to the future of 
Texas had met with a prompt response. 
59 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

Elections had been held in the several munici- 
palities and a meeting had been appointed for 
the middle of October at San Felipe de Austin, 
which at that time was regarded as the natural 
capital of Texas. There were three political 
parties in Texas. The War Party was re- 
solved on an appeal to arms which it was hoped 
would bring about independence. A second 
party, known as the Submission Party, was 
for peace at any price. The third party ad- 
vocated consultation before taking any active 
measures, and, having right on their side in 
this crisis, had carried the day. 

The delegates assembled on the 1st of No- 
vember. A quorum not being present, the 
meeting was adjourned until a sufficient num- 
ber of delegates appeared. On the 3rd of 
November the consultation organized with 
fifty members representing thirteen munici- 
palities — another parallel to the thirteen orig- 
inal colonies of the United States ! 

Branch T. Archer was elected president of 
the consultation, which, on the 7th of Novem- 

60 



TEE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

ber, proceeded to declare the formal adherence 
of Texas to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. 
There was a bitter struggle between the War 
Party and the two others over this point, in 
which the War Party was overwhelmingly de- 
feated. The Texans were preparing to fight ; 
they were in fact actually engaged in warfare 
against the country of which they were a part 
and in which, like Louis XIV, Santa Anna 
was the state; but like their American proto- 
types, they were not at that time contemplat- 
ing, at least officially, severance from the 
Mexican Republic — so called. The causes of 
their action are succinctly set forth in the 
following declaration: 

'' Whereas, General Antonio Lopez de Santa 
Anna and other military chieftains have, by force 
of arms, overthrown the federal institutions of 
Mexico, and dissolved the social compact which 
existed between Texas and the other members of 
the Mexican Confederacy, now the good people of 
Texas, availing themselves of their natural rights, 
solemnly declare: 

"1. That they have taken up arms in defense of 

61 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

their rights and liberties, which were threatened 
by the encroachments of military despots, and in 
defense of the republican principle of the Federal 
Constitution of Mexico of eighteen hundred and 
twenty-four. 

*' 2. That Texas is no longer, morally or civilly, 
bound by the Compact of Union; yet, stimulated 
by the generosity and sympathy common to a free 
people, they offer their support and assistance to 
such members of the Mexican Confederacy as will 
take up arms against military despotism. 

* * 3. That they do not acknowledge that the pres- 
ent authorities of the nominal Mexican Republic 
have the right to govern within the limits of Texas. 

'* 4. That they will not cease to carry on war 
against the said authorities while their troops are 
within the limits of Texas. 

'' 5. That they hold it to be their right, during 
the disorganization of the Federal system and the 
reign of despotism, to withdraw from the Union, to 
establish an independent government, or to adopt 
such measures as they may deem best calculated to 
protect their rights and liberties ; but that they will 
continue faithful to the Mexican government so 
long as that nation is governed by the Constitution 
and laws, which were formed for the government 
of the Political Association. 

62 



TEE TEXAN REVOLUTION 

" 6. That Texas is responsible for the expenses 
of her armies now in the field. 

'' 7. That the public faith of Texas is pledged 
for the payment of any debts contracted by her 
agents. 

" 8. That she will reward by donations of land 
all who may volunteer their services in her pres- 
ent struggle, and receive them as citizens. 

** These declarations we solemnly avow to the 
world, and call God to witness their truth and sin- 
cerity; and invoke defeat and disgrace upon our 
heads should we prove guilty of duplicity. ' ' ^ 

The Texans proceeded further. On the 
13th they passed a decree establishing a local- 
state government. H. W. Smith was elected 
governor and Messrs. Archer, Wharton and 
Austin were appointed commissioners to 
the United States. Austin would have been 
elected governor, had it not been felt that he 
could do the state better service in the United 
States on account of his ability, reputation, 
and wide acquaintance. 

' Sam Houston and the War of Independence in Texas, by 
Alfred M. Williams. 

6 63 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

Sam Houston was elected commander-in- 
chief of the armies. The consultation then 
adjourned, to meet in Washington, Texas, on 
the 1st of March, 1836. The consultation had 
accomplished much more than had been ex- 
pected. It had laid the foundation of a gov- 
ernment and had begun a revolution. 



64 



CHAPTER IV 
GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 



CHAPTER IV 

GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

As Houston played so great a part in the 
future history of Texas his previous history 
requires more than a passing notice.^ The 
Houston family was one of consideration, en- 
titled to wear armor in the old country — the 
North of Ireland. One of them had been 
among the redoubtable defenders of London- 
derry in 1689. They had settled in Virginia. 
While not belonging to the landed gentry of 
the Old Dominion, they were large and pros- 
perous farmers. 

Houston's father was an officer in the famous 
brigade of riflemen that Morgan led to Wash- 

* This biography of Sara Houston is abridged from my book 
American Fights and Fighters — Border, by permission of the 
publishers, McClure, Phillips & Co. The curious will find some 
of the more important battles in the Texan War of Independ- 
ence, which are briefly referred to here, from lack of space, 
treated at great length in the book cited. 

67 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

ington's assistance " from the right bank of 
the Potomac." His mother was one of those 
pioneer women of superb physique, high prin- 
ciple, and strength of mind and courage. 
After the death of her husband, when young 
Sam, who was born in 1783, was but thirteen 
years old, she took the family far over the 
Alleghany Mountains and settled in western 
Tennessee, on the borders of the Cherokee 
Nation. 

Such schooling as the neighborhood afforded 
was given to Sam. His educational opportu- 
nities were meager, but he made the best of his 
limited advantages, and with such books as the 
Bible, the Iliad, Shakespeare, The Pilgrim's 
Progress, and later, when he was commander- 
in-chief of the Texan army, Caesar's Com- 
mentaries — in translation, of course — he gave 
himself a good grounding. He was a close 
student in his way, and in manner and ability, 
when he became Governor of Tennessee, Presi- 
dent of Texas, Senator of the United States, 
Governor of Texas, etc., he had no cause to 

68 




GENERAL SAM HOUSTON, 
From au old daguerreotype. 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

blush when placed by the most distinguished 
men of his time. 

According to some authorities, his unwill- 
ingness to be a clerk in a country store, accord- 
ing to others, the refusal of his older brothers 
to allow him to study Latin, caused him to 
abandon civilization and cast his lot in with 
the Cherokees, whose territory lay adjacent 
to his home. He was adopted into the family 
of one of the sub-chiefs of the tribe, and for a 
long period lived a wild, savage life among 
them. At different intervals during his long 
career he resumed his relations with them, on 
one occasion taking from among them a wife, 
who afterward died, leaving no children. 

When he was asked to come back to civiliza- 
tion, he remarked in his grandiloquent way, 
that he preferred " measuring deer tracks to 
measuring tape." After several years with 
the Cherokees, at the age of eighteen, finding 
himself in debt for some barbaric finery, he 
returned to the settlement and opened a coun- 
try school. His pluck was greater than his 
69 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

attainments, which yet appear to have been 
sufficient to make the school a success, for it 
included all the children of the neighborhood, 
and he was enabled to raise the tuition fee 
from six to eight dollars per year, one-third 
payable in corn at thirty-three and one-half 
cents per bushel, one-third in cash, and one- 
third in cotton goods or other kind. He once 
said, after he had filled almost every elective 
position except that of President of the United 
States, that he experienced a higher feeling 
of dignity and self-satisfaction when he was 
schoolmaster than at any period of his life. 

Tired of school-teaching he enlisted in the 
army as a private and soon won promotion to 
the rank of ensign. He distinguished himself 
greatly under the command of Andrew Jack- 
son by his desperate courage at the battle of 
Tohopeka, or Horseshoe Bend, where he was 
so severely wounded in the performance of a 
deed of headlong valor, that his life was 
despaired of for a long time. After these 
early exploits he resigned from the service; 
70 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

one of his reasons being a severe and well- 
merited rebuke which he received for appear- 
ing before Calhoun, the Secretary of War, 
dressed like an Indian. He was usually a 
dandy in his dress, although at times he affect- 
ed peculiar and striking costumes, which his 
great height and imposing presence enabled 
him to wear without inspiring that ridicule 
which would have attended a similar perform- 
ance on the part of a less splendid man. 

When he was inaugurated Governor of 
Tennessee, August 2, 1827, he wore " a tall 
bell-crowned, medium-brimmed, shining black 
beaver hat, shining black patent-leather mili- 
tary stock, or cravat, incased by a standing 
collar, ruffled shirt, black satin vest, shining 
black pants gathered to the waistband with legs 
full, same size from seat to ankle, and a gor- 
geous, red-ground, many colored gown, or In- 
dian hunting shirt, fastened at the waist by a 
huge red sash covered with fancy bead work, 
with an immense silver buckle, embroidered 
silk stockings, and pumps with large silver 
71 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

buckles. Mounted on a superb dapple gray 
horse he appeared at the election unannounced, 
and was the observed of all observers." ^ I 
should think he might have been. 

When he was United States Senator, it was 
his habit to wear, in addition to the ordinary 
clothing of a gentleman of the time, an im- 
mense Mexican sombrero and colored blanket, 
or serape, and his appearance naturally ex- 
cited attention in Washington. 

While candidate for re-election as Governor 
of Tennessee, he separated from his young 
wife after three months of married life, gave 
over his campaign, and once more sought asy- 
lum with the Cherokees. The reason for this 
separation has never been discovered, although 
Houston explicitly stated that no reflection 
upon the character or the conduct of the lady 
in question was implied or expressed by his 
conduct.^ Championing the Indians when he 

^ statement of Colonel D. D. Claiborne quoted in Sam 
Houston, etc., by Alfred M. Williams. 

' Sam Houston, by Sarah Barnwell Elliott in the Beacon 
Biographies. 

72 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

came back to civilization, he became involved 
in a quarrel with Representative Stansberry, 
whom he publicly caned. For his conduct he 
was formally censured at the bar of Congress. 
This quarrel brought him into public notice 
again. It is shrewdly surmised that he pro- 
voked it for that purpose, for he said: "I 
was dying out once, and had they taken me 
before a justice of the peace and fined me ten 
dollars for assault and battery, it would have 
killed me ; but they gave me a national tribu- 
nal for a theater and that set me up again." 
Like many men of great physical vigor he 
was much given to excess. In his last sojourn 
among the Cherokees, the Indians expressed 
their contempt for his dissipated habits by 
naming him the " Big Drunk " ; but drunk or 
sober, there was something about him that in- 
spired respect. Whatever he did he was al- 
ways " Sam Houston." People used to say 
that he really signed his name " I am Hous- 
ton." After he was converted, however — 
and in a large measure before that time, at 
73 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the instance of Ms third wife, a woman of 
noble character, who married him to reform 
him and did so — he entirely stopped drinking 
and demeaned himself to the end of his life as 
a sincere and humble Christian of the highest 
type. When he got drunk, he got thoroughly 
drunk, and when he became converted to the 
Baptist faith, he did it with the same com- 
pleteness; a thorough-going man, indeed. 

In one particular he was remarkable among 
his contemporaries. He had great reluctance 
to resort to the duel, which was then the usual 
method of settling differences between gentle- 
men. He had to endure many sharp remarks 
and bitter criticisms on this account ; his cour- 
age was even impugned, at times, although 
we now realize that this was not only beyond 
question, but that its high quality was actual- 
ly established by these very refusals. Some- 
times his wit enabled him to escape. On one 
occasion, after counseling with his secretary, 
he informed a gentleman who brought him a 
challenge that his principal was number four- 
74 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

teen on the list, and that he conld hold out no 
hope of meeting him until he had disposed of 
the previous thirteen. 

His grandiloquent mind invested the slight- 
est occurrence with majesty. When he start- 
ed for Texas in 1832, with a commission from 
President Jackson to negotiate treaties be- 
tween the United States and the Indians, and 
with, in all probability, a secret commission 
to examine into, and report upon, the local 
condition with regard to Mexico, and the feel- 
ing of the colonists with regard to annexation 
to the United States,^ a friend of his gave him 
a razor, which he received with these words : 

'^ Major Rector, this is apparently a gift of 
little value, but it is an unestimable testimony to 
the friendship which has lasted many years, and 
proved steadfast under the blasts of calumny and 
injustice. Good-by. God bless you. When next 
you see this razor it shall be shaving the President 
of the Republic, by G— d." ^ 

' Sam Houston, etc., by Alfred M. Williams. 

' A rather singular indication, not only of his ambition, but 
also of the desire of his principals, and the opinion of the 
United States ! 

75 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

His manner toward ladies was as magnifi- 
cent as his person, his dress, his oratory. His 
habitual word of address to them was " lady " ; 
a very courtly, distinguished old fellow was he. 

After his supercession as Governor of 
Texas, because of his unwillingness to allow 
the state to go out of the Union, when the offi- 
cers of the Confederacy established a stringent 
law requiring all men over sixteen years to 
register and obtain a pass, Houston paid no 
attention to the order. When he was halted 
by an officer who demanded his pass, the old 
man waved him aside in his most Olympian 
manner, frowning as he remarked, " San Ja- 
cinto is my pass through Texas." Small won- 
der that the people loved him. 

He had a sense of humor and the dramatic 
such as few men enjoyed. He was one of the 
best campaigners among thousands of brilliant 
specimens that America has produced. His 
witty and epigrammatic speech may be illus- 
trated. A friend once betrayed him. When 
the man's character was assailed in his pres- 
76 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

ence, Houston remarked : " You mustn't be 
too hard on S. I was always fond of dogs and 
S. has all the virtues of a dog except his fidel- 
ity." One of his remembered phrases describ- 
ing a certain great personage is : " Ambitious 
as Lucifer and cold as a lizard." He may 
fairly be called a statesman. He most cer- 
tainly can be styled an orator. A little verse, 
which he wrote to a relative, illustrates that 
he was not deficient in the arts and graces, 
and is worth quoting : 

Remember thee? Yes, lovely girl, 

While faithful memory holds its seat, 
Till this warm heart in dust is laid, 

And this wild pulse shall cease to beat. 
No matter where my bark is tost, 

On hfe's tempestuous, stormy sea. 
My anchor gone, my rudder lost. 

Still, cousin, I will think of thee. 

Houston did everything in his power to 
prevent the secession of Texas in 1861, but 
when she left the Union he went with her. We 
can understand him. Texas was like his own 
child. He died in reduced circumstances in 
77 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

1863, his last years embittered by the too evi- 
dent failure of the Confederacy and the dis- 
cords which tore his beloved country in twain. 
The world is familiar with the events of 
his strange, romantic and useful career, few 
Americans have been more written about, and 
few men deserved it more. While he did not 
rise to the solitary heights of greatness, he was 
one of the most eminent men of his time, and 
his valuable services to Texas are held in un- 
dying remembrance.^ 

' The following is a summary of his career: "Born near Lex- 
ington, Va., March 2, 1793 ; died at Huntsville, Texas, July 35, 
1863. An American gentleman and statesman. He served in 
the War of 1812 ; was a member of Congress from Tennessee, 
1823-27 ; was Governor of Tennessee, 1827-29 ; as commander- 
in-chief of the Texans, defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto, 
April, 1836; was President of Texas, 1836-38 and 1841-44; was 
United States Senator from Texas, 1845-59 ; and was Governor 
of Texas, 1859-61."— Cen^wry Dictionary of Names. 



78 



CHAPTER V 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 
—THE CONSTITUTION 



CHAPTER V 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THE CON- 
STITUTION 

Before Houston assumed command, the 
Texan forces in the field had been more or less 
busy, although little that was decisive was ac- 
complished after the first successes. General 
Cos had peremptorily declined to surrender 
San Antonio. He had refused even to treat 
with those whom he regarded as rebels. The 
siege had made languid progress. Division, 
want of harmony, lack of discipline, insub- 
ordination, and jealousy prevailed — all the 
faults of an unorganized volunteer force — 
among the different Texan commands, and 
when Austin left the army at the summons of 
the consultation, turning the command over 
to Burleson temporarily, Houston also being 
busily engaged at the consultation of which 
81 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

he was an important member, the dissensions 
spread until it was gravely proposed to aban- 
don the siege and disband. 

During the siege there had been several 
skirmishes in different localities between de- 
tachments; one known as the Grass Fight in 
which the Mexicans lost over fifty men, an- 
other at Lepantitlan, on November 3, 1835. 
In this minor fighting the Texans had been 
brilliantly successful. Now it appeared that 
they might lose everything. Benjamin E. 
Milam, a picturesque and romantic figure, 
much beloved by the Texans, came to the 
rescue. 

Milam was a native of Kentucky, of humble 
parentage, and had little education. He had 
distinguished himself in the war between 
the United States and England in 1812-15. 
Afterward he engaged in trading with the 
Indians at the head waters of Texan rivers. 
Later he joined Mina in his disastrous expe- 
dition in aid of the revolutionary cause in 
Mexico, and rendered valuable services, being 
82 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

one of those who escaped death. When Itur- 
bide proclaimed himself emperor, Milam was 
among the first to join the party that opposed 
him. For this he was cast into prison, where 
he languished until Iturbide's dethronement, 
when he was released. He was in Monclova 
at the time of Viesca's deposal, and was cap- 
tured with him. Milam escaped from his pris- 
on at Monterey by winning the confidence of 
his jailer ; and after being supplied by a friend 
with a fleet horse and a little food traveled 
alone six hundred miles, journeying by night 
and concealing himself by day, till he reached 
the vicinity of Goliad almost exhausted. Af- 
ter the capture of that place he enlisted in 
the ranks.^ 

Milam, with Burleson's permission, resolved 
to make a final appeal to the army before it 
raised the siege and disbanded. Assembling 
the discontented officers and men on the even- 
ing of the 4th of December, he made an im- 

^ Abridged from note in Bancroffs North American States 
and Texas, vol. ii. 

83 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

passioned speech closing with these words: 
" Who will go into San Antonio with old Ben 
Milam?" 

The effect was electrical. The erstwhile re- 
calcitrant men now clamored tumultuously to 
be led to the attack. The assault began in earn- 
est the next morning and continued for five 
days. The Texans stormed the place, fighting 
in the streets, carrying the barricades, dislodg- 
ing the enemy in a series of hand-to-hand con- 
flicts from house to house until finally on the 
evening of the 9th General Cos hoisted the 
white flag. Milam had been killed while reck- 
lessly exposing himself in one of the assaults. 
The Texan loss was one man killed — Milam 
— and twenty-seven wounded. Milam was 
about forty-five years of age. The Mexican 
loss is variously estimated; it was probably 
over one hundred and fifty killed and twice 
as many wounded. 

Five hundred stand of arms, twenty-one 
pieces of artillery, besides an immense quan- 
tity of supplies, all of great value, fell into 
84 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

the hands of the Texans. Honorable terms 
were granted to Cos, who was permitted to 
leave Texas with his regular troops retaining 
their arms. A large number of convicts 
whom the Mexicans had impressed as sol- 
diers and ordered to the assistance of Cos 
were deprived of their arms and sent back 
under guard of the regular troops. 

Meanwhile, the Mexican government had 
not been idle. It had despatched a large body 
of troops to succor Cos and raise the siege of 
San Antonio, but this reinforcement met the 
troops of Cos returning from the capitulation 
and the whole party withdrew into Mexico. 
There was, therefore, not a single Mexican 
soldier left east of the Nueces River. Texas 
so far was free. Various expeditions were 
projected by the Texans, but owing to the lack 
of organic coherency among the different de- 
tachments, and to petty jealousy and distrust 
of one another among the leaders, they came 
to nothing. An attempt was made to send a 
force to the Rio Grande to capture Matamoras, 
85 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

but the question of command could not be set- 
tled and the expedition never got off. 

The volunteers, having seen the last Mexi- 
can leave Texan limits, naturally desired to go 
home to attend to their various duties. The reg- 
ular Texan troops were in a state of confusion 
and disorganization. There was no money with 
which to pay them. The temporary govern- 
ment had not been sufficiently well established 
to command recognition and obedience, and 
its requisitions were often disregarded. Yet 
the case was not hopeless ; money and supplies, 
together with volunteers^ had been poured into 
Texas from the United States, which was 
openly used as a recruiting ground for the 
Texan army. Most of the regular troops, in 
fact, were recruited from the United States, 
and actually called themselves after their 
home locality ; as, " The New Orleans Bat- 
talion," " The Cincinnati Company," etc. 
Mexico protested vehemently against this, but 
received no satisfaction. 

Among other flagrant breaches of neutrality 
86 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

on our part, was a filibustering expedition 
formed in and despatched from New Orleans, 
to attack Tampico, Mexico, which had no con- 
nection whatever with Texas, save as a diver- 
sion, and which was, in fact, unless disavowed 
and apologized for with suitable reparation 
made, an act of open war, more especially 
since the bulk of the adventurers were Ameri- 
can citizens. The expedition failed lamenta- 
bly and most of the participants were shot — 
as they deserved to be. It had no bearing on 
this struggle, but it is interesting, as indicating 
the attitude of the United States. 

The finest body of troops in the Texan army 
was a New Orleans company, which had been 
enlisted and uniformed for the purpose of 
fighting Mexico. During the Texan war it 
was most preposterously but gravely urged by 
the United States that so long as the govern- 
ment officially did not actively and directly in- 
terfere between Texas and Mexico, it could 
take no cognizance of the doings of private 
individuals. We have made progress since 
87 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

that day. I am certain that our government 
would not now allow such things even in the 
case of the weakest and feeblest power; in- 
deed, our course in the Cuban revolt against 
Spain is a case in point. 

The period between the departure of the 
Mexicans from Texas and their return — for it 
was evident to every one that Mexico would not 
tamely submit to the loss of her most promis- 
ing province without making an effort to re- 
gain it — was a time which should have been 
employed by the Texans in strengthening their 
army and in making suitable preparation for 
the next campaign. Little or nothing was 
accomplished, however. Santa Anna, on the 
contrary, assembled a force of some six thou- 
sand men of which he took personal command, 
having under him as second in command. 
General Filisola, with Generals Cos, Sesma, 
Gaona, Tolsa, Ampudia, and others, as briga- 
diers. His force had been amply provided with 
everything necessary to prosecute the war. It 
rendezvoused at Monclova early in 1836. 
88 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

The Texans had been fully informed of the 
storm which was about to break upon them. 
They prepared to meet it from one point of 
view with firmness, but from another, they did 
nothing. Their courage was beyond all ques- 
tion. The population of Mexico at that time 
was estimated to be about eight millions of 
people, of which four millions were Indians; 
two millions half-breed Indians and negroes; 
one million two hundred thousand pure blood- 
ed Mexicans of Spanish descent; six hundred 
thousand mulattoes or half-breed Indians 
and negroes; and one hundred thousand full- 
blooded negroes. The remainder, including 
•one thousand Spanish subjects, was divided 
among other nationalities. The population 
of Texas was about forty-five thousand, in- 
cluding thirty thousand Americans, thirty-five 
hundred Mexicans, four thousand Indians and 
five thousand negroes. 

Back of the Texans, however, lay the United 
States, and between the United States and 
Mexico, from a material point of view, there 
89 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

could be no comparison. The United States 
had already taken action under the pretense 
that the Indians were troublesome. It had 
despatched General Gaines with a strong 
force to the Sabine River. This constituted 
a moral demonstration of undoubted value to 
the Texans. 

The consultation reassembled on the 1st of 
March, 1836, at Washington, on the Brazos. 
The spirit of the delegates had changed for 
they now declared themselves a convention, 
and on the 2nd of March the following Decla- 
ration of Independence was proclaimed : 

The Unanimous 
Declaration of Independence 

MADE BY the 

Delegates of the People of Texas 

IN General Convention 

AT THE Town of Washington 

ON THE 2nd Day of March 1836. 

** When a government has ceased to protect the 
lives, liberty and property of the people, from 
whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the 
advancement of whose happenings it was instituted, 

90 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoy- 
ment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, 
becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers 
for their oppression : When the Federal Republican 
Constitution of their country, which they have 
sworn to support, no longer has a substantial exist- 
ence, and the whole nature of their government has 
been forcibly changed without their consent, from a 
restricted federative republic, composed of sover- 
eign states, to a consolidated central, military des- 
potism in which every interest is disregarded but 
that of the army and the priesthood — both the eter- 
nal enemies of civil liberty, the eve-ready minions 
of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants: 
When, long after the spirit of the Constitution 
has departed, moderation is at length, so far lost, 
by those in power that even the semblance of free- 
dom is removed, and the forms, themselves, of the 
Constitution discontinued; and so far from their 
petitions and remonstrances being regarded the 
agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons; 
and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new 
government upon them at the point of the bayonet : 
When in consequence of such acts of malfea- 
sance and abdication, on the part of the govern- 
ment, anarchy prevails, and civil Society is dis- 
solved into its original elements. In such a crisis, 

91 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation 
— the inherent and inalienable right of the people 
to appeal to first principles and take their political 
affairs into their own hands in extreme cases en- 
joins it as a right towards themselves and a sacred 
obligation to their posterity to abolish Such Gov- 
ernment and create another, in its stead, calculated 
to rescue them from impending dangers, and to se- 
cure their future welfare and happiness. 

*' Nations; as well as individuals, are amenable 
for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. 
A statement of a part of our grievances is, there- 
fore, submitted to an impartial world, in justifica- 
tion of the hazardous but unavoidable step now 
taken of severing our political connection with the 
Mexican people, and assuming an independent atti- 
tude among the nations of the earth. 

'* The Mexican government, by its colonization 
laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American pop- 
ulation of Texas to colonize its wilderness under 
the pledged faith of a written Constitution that 
they should continue to enjoy that constitutional 
liberty and republican government to which they 
had been habituated in the land of their birth, the 
United States of America. In this expectation they 
have been cruelly disappointed, inasmuch as the 
Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes 

92 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

made in the government by General Antonia Lopoez 
de Santa Anna, who, having overturned the Con- 
stitution of his Country, now offers us the cruel al- 
ternative either to abandon our homes, acquired by 
so many privations, or submit to the most intolera- 
ble of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the 
Sword and the priesthood. 

'' It has sacrificed our welfare to the State of 
Coahuila, by which our interests have been contin- 
ually depressed through a jealous and partial 
course of legislation carried on at a far distant seat 
of government, by a hostile majority, in an un- 
known tongue; and this too, notwithstanding we 
have petitioned in the humblest terms, for the es- 
tablishment of a separate State Government, and 
have, in accordance with the provisions of the na- 
tional Constitution, presented to the general Con- 
gress a republican Constitution, which was, without 
just cause contemptuously rejected. 

'' It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, 
one of our citizens, for no other cause but a zealous 
endeavor to procure the acceptance of our Consti- 
tution and the establishment of a State Government. 

*' It has failed and refused to secure on a firm 
basis, the right of trial by jury ; that palladium of 
Civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, 
liberty, and property of the Citizen. 
93 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

'* It has failed to establish any public system of 
Education, although possessed of almost boundless 
resources (the public domain) and, although, it is 
an axiom, in political science, that unless a people 
are educated and enlightened it is idle to expect 
the continuance of civil liberty, or the Capacity for 
Self-Government. 

" It has suffered the Military Commandants 
stationed among us to exercise arbitrary acts of 
oppression and tyrrany; thus trampling upon the 
most Sacred rights of the citizen and rendering the 
military superior to the civil power. 

** It has dissolved by force of arms, the State 
Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our 
representatives to fly for their lives from the Seat 
of government; thus depriving us of the funda- 
mental political rights of representation. 

' ' It has demanded the surrender of a number of 
our Citizens, and ordered military detachments to 
seize and carry them into the Interior for trial; in 
contempt of the civil authorities, and in defiance of 
the laws and the Constitution. 

" It has made piratical attacks upon our Com- 
merce; by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and 
authorizing them to seize our vessels, and convey 
the property of our Citizens to far distant ports for 
confiscation. 

94 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

'' It denies us the right of worshipping the 
Allmighty according to the dictates of our own 
conscience; by the support of a national religion 
calculated to promote the temporal interest of its 
human functionaries rather than the glory of the 
true and living God. 

** It has demanded us to deliver up our arms; 
which are essential to our defense, the rightful 
property of freemen, and formidable only to tyr- 
ranical Governments. 

** It has invaded our Country, both by sea and 
by land, with intent to lay waste our territory and 
drive us from our homes ; and has now a large mer- 
cenary army advancing to carry on against us a 
war of extermination. 

*' It has, through its emisaries, incited the mer- 
ciless Savage, with the Tomahawk and Scalping- 
knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defense- 
less frontiers. 

* ' It hath been, during the whole time of our con- 
nection with it, the contemptible Sport and victim 
of Successive Military Revolutions; and hath con- 
tinually exhibited every characteristic of a weak, 
corrupt and tyrranical Government. 

*' These, and other grievances, were patiently 
borne by the people of Texas untill they reached 
that point at which forbearance ceases to be a vir- 

8 95 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

tue. We then took up arms in defense of the na- 
tional Constitution. We appealed to our Mexican 
brethren for Assistance. Our appeal has been made 
in vain. Though months have elapsed, no sympa- 
thetic response has yet been heard from the Interior. 
We are, therefore, forced to the melancholy conclu- 
sion that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the 
destruction of their liberty, and the substitution 
therefor of a Military Government — that they are 
imfit to be free and incapable of Self Government. 

'' The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, 
now decrees our eternal political separation. 

' ' We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary pow- 
ers, of the people of Texas, in solemn convention 
assembled, appealing to a Candid World for the 
necessities of our Condition, do hereby resolve and 
declare that our political connection with the Mex- 
ican Nation has f or-ever ended ; and that the people 
of Texas do now constitute a free Sovereign and in- 
dependent Republic, and are fully invested with all 
the rights and attributes which properly belong to 
independent nations; and, conscious of the recti- 
tude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confident- 
ly commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme 
Arbiter of the destinies of nations." ^ 

^ Reproduced as to spelling, capitalization, etc., from a 
facsimile in Comprehensive History of Texas. 

96 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

On the 4th of March, Sam Houston, who 
had received his rank from the consultation, 
was again elected commander-in-chief of the 
armies of the Texan Republic. On the six- 
teenth, a constitution was adopted, and, so far 
as could then be done, the independence of 
Texas was assured. 

The constitution had been drawn up on the 
lines of that of the United States, with such 
changes as were rendered necessary by the 
fact that Texas included only a single state, as 
has been said, and " provided for the establish- 
ment of an Executive, a Legislature to consist 
of two bodies. Senate and House of Represen- 
tatives, and a Judiciary, to be governed by the 
common law of England. Slavery was estab- 
lished, and owners were forbidden to manumit 
their slaves without the consent of Congress. 
Free negroes were forbidden to reside in the 
territory. The importation of slaves, except 
from the United States, was punishable as 
piracy. . . . Freedom and equality for all 
forms of religious belief were decreed; the 
97 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

rights of trial by jury and writ of habeas cor- 
pus, except in cases of treason, and the freedom 
of the press were established. No man was to 
be imprisoned for debt, and titles of nobility 
and monopolies were forbidden." ^ 

David G. Burnet was elected president of 
the provincial government, which was to ad- 
minister affairs until the people could express 
themselves constitutionally. Lorenzo de Za- 
vala, an enlightened, liberty-loving Mexican, 
was elected vice-president. 

^ Sam Houston, etc., by Alfred M. Williams. 



98 



CHAPTER VI 
THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 



LofC. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

Meanwhile, the Mexicans had been busy. 
On the 23rd of February, 1836, after a desper- 
ate march of one hundred leagues, from Mon- 
clova to San Antonio, across a desert country, 
in the depth of a Texas winter, Santa Anna 
with ^Ye thousand regular soldiers of the 
Mexican army, accompanied by a large num- 
ber of camp followers and others, appeared 
before San Antonio. The garrison had with- 
drawn from the town and taken refuge in the 
buildings of the old Spanish Mission Del 
Alamo under the command of Lieutenant- 
Colonel William Barrett Travis, of North 
Carolina, a young lawyer just twenty-eight 
years of age. Travis was " six feet in height, 
erect and manly in figure, with blue eyes, red- 
dish hair and round face." ^ South Carolinian 

* Sam Houston, etc., by Alfred M. Williams. 

101 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

historians claim that Travis should be accred- 
ited to their state, instead of North Carolina. 
It is a tradition that he was a f oundhng, and 
was discovered tied to the bars of a gate on 
the farm of a man named Travis, who adopted 
him and named him William Barr, not Will- 
iam Barrett. The Travis farm was situated 
between Saluda and Johnston, in South Caro- 
lina.^ However, Travis signed his name Will- 
iam Barrett, and to whatever state he belonged 
he honored it signally. 

With Travis in the Alamo was James Bowie, 
who, with Fannin, had commanded at the battle 
at Mission Concepcion. Bowie was seriously 
ill. He had been disabled by a fall and was 
also suffering from a severe attack of pleuro- 
pneumonia. Therefore, he could contribute 
little to the defense. Under Travis' command 
eventually were upward of one hundred and 
eighty men. His original garrison had been 
about one hundred and forty. Early in Feb- 

* See note on pp. 315-16, my book American Fights and 
Fighters— Border. 

102 




i'-'C 


^ \ ^^ ^ 


"^ 


-^^1 n 


r^ 


^. f 



^'^1 



' " V \ 






v: 



i I 






TEE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

ruary there came to him a certain David 
Crockett, with twelve other men from Ten- 
nessee, anxious and willing to help Texas gain 
her independence and incidentally to indulge 
in their natural proclivity for any kind of 
a fight. 

David Crockett, renowned as a pioneer, 
hunter, and politician, is one of the most in- 
teresting characters in our early history. The 
son of an Irish emigrant, who had proved his 
devotion by fighting gallantly at King's Moun- 
tain during the Revolution, he was born at 
Limestone, Green County, Tennessee, on the 
17th of August, 1786. His parents were very 
poor. He received no education save in hard 
work and in pioneering experiences, and at 
the age of twelve was apprenticed to a team- 
ster and thereafter to a hatter. He returned 
home at the age of fifteen, determined to get 
some education. He did not at that time know 
the "first letter in the book." Six months 
completed his schooling. He served with 
credit under Jackson in the Creek War in 1813. 
103 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

He was a big, brawny, genial, splendid man, 
the best shot in Tennessee, and very popular 
with his associates, who elected him a magis- 
trate and colonel of militia in 1821. There- 
after he was successively elected to the State 
Legislature, and then for two terms to the 
National Congress, where his humor, his 
bravery and his shrewdness, made him a 
figure of national prominence. Failing of 
re-election because of his hostility to some of 
the projects of his whilom friend. President 
Jackson, and finding his political career in 
Tennessee closed on that account, he deter- 
mined to go to Texas and help her win her 
freedom.^ 

After Santa Anna appeared Travis des- 
patched messengers in all directions for help, 
and thirty-two men from Gonzales, under 
Captain J. W. Smith, broke through the 
Mexican Hues on the 1st of March and joined 
him. Fannin was at Goliad with some four or 

^ See my book, American Fights and Fighters — Border, for a 
sketch of Crockett. 

104 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

five hundred men. Accompanied by Colonel 
James Butler Bonham, an intimate friend of 
Travis, who had brought his appeal to Goliad, 
Fannin made an effort to join Travis in the 
Alamo. His ammunition wagons broke down, 
his transportation failed, he could not get his 
artillery over the rivers, and he was forced to 
abandon the attempt. Fannin tried to per- 
suade Bonham to stay with him. " I will re- 
port to Travis or die in the attempt ! " was 
brave Bonham's answer. He got through the 
Mexican lines at one o'clock on the morning 
of March 3rd. On the 6th of March one of 
Travis' messengers reached the convention 
assembled at Washington and laid before it 
this ringing appeal : 

'* To the People of Texas and all' Americans in the 
World — Commandancy of the Alamo. 

" Bexar, February 24, 1836. 
" Fellow-Citizens and Compatriots: 

'' I am besieged by a thousand or more of the 
Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a 
continual bombardment for twenty- four hours and 

105 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

have not lost a man. The enemy have demanded a 
surrender at discretion; otherwise the garrison is 
to be put to the sword if the place is taken. I have 
answered the summons with a cannon shot and our 
flag still waves proudly from the walls.^ / shall 
never surrender or retreat. Then, I call upon you, 
in the name of liberty, of patriotism, and of every- 
thing dear to the American character, to come to 
our aid with all despatch. The enemy are receiv- 
ing reinforcements daily, and will no doubt in- 
crease to three or four thousand in four or five 
days. Though this call may be neglected, I am 
determined to sustain myself as long as possible, 
and die like a soldier who never forgets what is 
due to his own honor and that of his country. 
** Victory or Death! 

" W. Barrett Travis, 
** Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.'' 

** P. S. — The Lord is on our side. When the 
army appeared in sight we had not three bushels 
of corn. We have since found in deserted houses 
eighty or ninety bushels and got into the walls 
twenty or thirty beeves." 

^ That flag was the familiar vertical green, white and red 
bars of Mexico with the number 1824 in the white bar, to sig- 
nify allegiance to the Mexican Constitution of that date. 

106 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

It was moved that the convention suspend 
its functions and that its members should 
take arms, and march immediately to the re- 
lief of Travis. Such counsel was gallant but 
injudicious. Important as was the relief of 
Travis, the work of the convention was much 
more so, and by the influence of Houston, who 
declared that the passage of the motion would 
mean suicide to the state, the members were 
prevailed upon to remain in session and com- 
plete their legislative business. Under such 
trying circumstances did that convention 
establish its constitution. 

Travis, in other letters, declared his inten- 
tion of holding the Alamo until he got relief 
from his countrymen or perished in its de- 
fense. There is little doubt that he could 
have cut his way out and have escaped with his 
men had he elected to do so. It would 
have required a thousand men properly to 
man the exterior line of the Alamo. Travis 
and his lone hundred and eighty did the 
best they could for eleven days. Finally the 
107 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

Alamo fell, after a desperate hand-to-hand 
battle, on Sunday morning, the 6th of March. 
The defenders died fighting. Bowie, too ill to 
rise, lay on his bed in the hospital, and emp- 
tied his pistols at his assailants before he 
was killed. Travis was shot early in the 
storm, which was undertaken by some twenty- 
five hundred men. Old Crockett was bayonet- 
ed after a supreme struggle in front of the 
Mission Church. Six people who were in the 
fort at the beginning of the battle were spared 
by the Spanish, two women, two children and 
two slaves — but no soldiers. 

The dead, to the number of about one hun- 
dred and eighty-two, were gathered into a huge 
pyramid, layers of wood and layers of bodies 
in alternation, and the torch applied. The 
Spanish casualties are variously estimated 
from five hundred to one thousand, most of 
their loss being sustained in the final hand-to- 
hand fighting. 

The defense of the Alamo was the most 
heroic exploit in American history, and one of 
108 




'■■'pwulit iiy s s .McClure Co. 
THE DEATH OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

the most heroic exploits in any history. Santa 
Anna was universally execrated for his ruth- 
less conduct. Dark stories were prevalent 
that some of the Texans had asked for quarter, 
had been refused, and had been ruthlessly 
butchered by his orders. We may hold him 
guiltless of this graver charge. The Texans, 
or the Americans, as they should be called, 
did not ask for quarter. They died arms in 
hand. The inscription on the monument 
erected afterward to the defenders of the 
Alamo, at the state capital at Austin, is en- 
tirely true : 

u Thermopylae had its messenger of defeat. 
The Alamo had none." 

Santa Anna and the Mexicans were to ap- 
pear in even worse light. A body of troopers 
under General Urrea had been despatched to 
operate against Fannin at Goliad. Fannin's 
command had been concentrated for the pur- 
pose of invading Mexico. His was that 
Matamoras expedition which had come to 
naught. Urrea had been completely success- 
109 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

ful in isolating and overwhelming small de- 
tachments, which were invariably put to death. 
The Mexican Republic had decreed that any 
foreigners — that is, Americans, of course — 
captured under arms in Texas and bearing 
arms against Mexico, should be put to death, 
and Urrea executed his captives as fast as 
he took them. His advance was no mere 
butchering excursion, however, for in each 
instance he only succeeded after desperate 
fighting. 

After the fall of the Alamo, Houston sent 
peremptory orders to Fannin to withdraw to- 
ward Victoria and join the general force with 
the commander-in-chief. Fannin had the best 
of the Texan troops under his command. 
They were nearly all regularly organized and 
well equipped bodies from various parts of 
the United States. It was vitally necessary 
for the Texans to assemble their forces in 
the presence of the overwhelming army of 
Santa Anna. Faihng to do this, they would 
be beaten in detail. 

110 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

Fannin did not obey immediately; in fact, 
at first he positively refused to do so, and 
notified Houston to that effect,^ but on more 
mature reflection, he concluded that it would be 
best for his force to comply with the orders — 
sad commentary on the discipline of the Texan 
army, all this! He had despatched one or 
two parties in different directions, very un- 
wisely, and he felt it necessary to wait for their 
return. So imperative in Houston's mind 
was the necessity for quick action that he had 
directed Fannin to bury his cannon and destroy 
or conceal such stores as would impede his 
rapid movements. 

Fannin was a brave, capable officer, but 
military discipline was not strongly enforced 
and he concluded to wait for the return of his 
scouting parties. Indeed, he had even des- 
patched some others after the receipt of 
Houston's orders. The parties never joined 

^ Personal Narrative of General Sam Houston, quoted in 
American History Told by Contemporaries, vol. iii. Edited by 
Albert Bushnell Hart. 

9 111 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

him. They were attacked and beaten in sever- 
alty by Urrea. Those who were captured 
were put to death and the others were driven 
in headlong flight to the eastward, only to be 
captured later on and ultimately to share the 
melancholy fate of Fannin's command. They 
did not retreat in any case until practi- 
cally they were completely out of ammunition, 
and then they fled for their lives. 

Fannin wasted several precious days in 
trying to assemble these detachments, and 
finally on Saturday, the 19th of March, he dis- 
mantled Fort Defiance and started for Vic- 
toria. Again he failed to obey Houston's 
orders, for he took with him a great train of 
artillery and supply wagons, drawn by oxen, 
which was absolutely fatal to rapid motion. 
That same morning, while on the march, he 
was surrounded on an open prairie by an over- 
whelming force of Mexicans under Urrea. At 
the time Fannin was about four miles from 
the Coleta River, on which he had hoped to 
camp for the night. Where he then was 
112 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

neither water nor wood could be had, nor was 
there any natural protection. In fact, the 
army, when caught, happened to be in a de- 
pression of land some six feet below the 
level of the prairie. The Mexicans had hid- 
den in the woodland on the banks of the Co- 
leta and had galloped thence and surround- 
ed them. 

A short distance away was a little hillock 
which offered better defensive possibilities. 
Fannin unlimbered his cannon, opened fire on 
the Mexicans and then endeavored to reach 
this hill, but the breaking down of his ammu- 
nition wagons forced him to stay where he 
was. He drew up his men to the number of 
three hundred in a hollow square. The oxen 
and wagons were placed in the middle of the 
square with the few women and children. 
There was a four- or six-pounder at each 
corner. The Georgia battalion carried a flag 
with a single blue star in its field with these 
words, " Liberty or Death." There were 
plenty of rifles and an abundance of ammuni- 
113 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

tion. The cavalry, being some miles in ad- 
vance, was prevented from joining the main 
body by the interposing Mexicans. 

Between two and three o'clock in the after- 
noon the formal battle began. The Mexicans, 
under cover of a rapid and well-sustained fire, 
tried to break the American square by bayonet 
charges. The attacks were repulsed with 
frightful loss to the assailants, whose artillery 
had not yet come up. The courage of the 
Mexicans was remarkable. They came on 
again and again. The attack culminated in a 
dashing cavalry charge, led by Urrea in per- 
son, which was repulsed with great difficulty. 
The defenders suffered severely in the fight- 
ing. Many were killed and wounded in the 
Americans' yet unbroken square. The men 
generally lay down until the enemy were close 
upon them, when they rose and delivered 
their fire. Fannin and his officers remained 
standing. 

Toward early evening the Mexican sharp- 
shooters crept close to the Americans, and, 
114 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

covered by the tall grass, opened fire, inflicting 
terrible damage. As soon as it grew dark 
enough for the Texans to mark the position of 
the sharpshooters by the flashes of their gnns, 
they succeeded in driving them off. There- 
after they were left unmolested during the 
remainder of the night. Their situation 
was indeed desperate. It was intensely hot. 
There was not a drop of water, and there were 
many wounded. Through some mistake it 
was found that no food had been brought 
along. Nevertheless, they kept up a stout 
heart during the night, and threw up a light 
line of entrenchments further to protect them- 
selves. They thought they had decisively 
beaten the Mexicans. 

Reinforcements, however, reached Urrea 
during the night, bringing heavier guns than 
those of Fannin, which were rendered more 
or less useless from lack of water with which 
to sponge them. The Mexican artillery 
opened fire at daybreak. The Americans re- 
plied as well as they could with small arms 
115 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

until their ammunition gave out, when there 
was nothing left for them but to surrender. 
They did not give up until they had passively 
endured the Mexican fire for some time and 
observed them making preparations for storm. 
Fannin, who had been wounded, even then did 
not wish to raise the white flag, but he was 
overborne by his officers. Indeed, there was 
nothing else to do. 

This surrender was made in the most formal 
manner. A solemn convention was drawn up 
in writing in triplicate, by which the Ameri- 
cans were given favorable terms, the officers' 
side-arms and private baggage were to be re- 
tained, and the whole body of men was to be 
sent back to the United States under an agree- 
ment that none of them should bear arms 
against Mexico. The men were to be treated 
as prisoners of war until the agreement could 
be carried out. The Americans were well 
aware of Santa Anna's decrees and the treat- 
ment which in other respects they might expect 
to have meted out to them. They took every 
116 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

precaution possible to pledge their antagonists 
before they capitulated. 

The Mexicans brought them back to Goliad. 
Urrea seems to have been acting in good faith. 
In spite of his wound, he allowed Fannin to 
go to Matagorda to seek for a schooner or 
other vessel to take his men back to New 
Orleans. None being immediately available, 
the American captain, after making arrange- 
ments for the future, returned to Goliad. 
Meanwhile, Santa Anna had been apprised 
of the capture, and despatched an order to the 
commanding officer at Goliad, one Colonel Por- 
tilla — Urrea being absent in the field — per- 
emptorily directing him to enforce the decree 
of the government — Santa Anna himself was 
the government! — with regard to foreigners 
caught in arms against the Mexican gov- 
ernment. 

Portilla, to his credit, would fain have dis- 
obeyed this order, but he had no alternative. 
He determined, however, to spare the lives of 
Captain Miller and a body of Americans, cap- 
117 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

tured just as they landed in Texas, who had 
not participated in the battle of the Coleta. 
He did this on the representation of Colonel 
Garay, one of his subordinates, an honorable 
and gallant soldier, who protested vehemently 
against compliance with the decree in any 
event. 

With the American troops were eight sur- 
geons, who, after the battle, had been of great 
assistance to the Mexican wounded, and their 
services were still valuable. These were 
marched to Garay's headquarters on the morn- 
ing of Pahn Sunday, March 27, 1836, and with 
them two other men to whom Garay was 
personally attached. The wife of one of 
the officers, Seiiora Alvarez, secreted several 
other Americans. Of the other prisoners, 
those who were not wounded were marched out 
to the parade, and by the Mexican guards di- 
vided into three companies. They were then 
taken to different fields outside the walls and 
there ordered to sit down with their backs to 
the soldiers. Most of them did this in bewil- 
118 



THE ALAMO AND GOLIAD 

derment, no one having the slightest inkling 
of the fell purpose of the Mexicans. Volleys 
were then poured into these helpless men at 
close range. Those not instantly killed fled 
for their lives, pursued by the soldiers. Some 
twenty-seven of them finally made good their 
escape, most of them more or less severely 
wounded. The soldiers then went back to the 
barracks, where the wounded Americans were, 
and murdered the helpless men in the hospital. 
Fannin was the last man to be killed. He 
handed the officer in charge of the butchers his 
watch, and, asking that his ruthless execution- 
ers spare his face, struggled to his feet, opened 
his shirt and was instantly shot in the face in 
spite of his appeal. His body, with those of 
the others of his command, was thrown into a 
brush heap and burned. Some three hundred 
and thirty prisoners, who had trusted to the 
solemn word of their captors, were thus ruth- 
lessly slaughtered. Those who escaped num- 
bered less than forty. Coming on top of the 
bloody work at the Alamo, this brutal and 
119 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

ferocious act, for which Santa Anna is directly 
responsible, awakened such a storm of indig- 
nation throughout Texas — and what was pos- 
sibly more important, throughout the United 
States as well — that all questions of right, 
wrong, or expediency were lost in a wild de- 
sire for revenge. All this culminated in a 
stern determination to expel the bloody Dicta- 
tor from Texas, free it from Mexican rule and 
establish it as an independent state. 

The justice of the Mexican contention in 
the subsequent differences with the United 
States became obscured and was disregarded, 
seen as it was, through the butchery of the 
Alamo and the massacre at Goliad. Mexico, 
in the end, paid a bitter price for the cold- 
blooded and inhuman ferocity of her ruler. 



120 



CHAPTER VII 

SAN JACINTO— THE NEW REPUBLIC 
—STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 



CHAPTER VII 

SAN JACINTO — THE NEW KEPUBLIC — STEPHEN F. 
AUSTIN 

Santa Anna was now practically supreme 
in Texas. He believed the revolt had been 
crushed hopelessly and that he had definitely 
established his ascendency. He thereupon de- 
termined to send the most of his troops back 
to Mexico. It was only upon the urgent rep- 
resentations of his generals that he agreed 
to delay their departure, in order to march 
further eastward and absolutely scatter and 
destroy the last vestige of armed resistance. 

Houston lay on the Colorado River with the 
main Texan army, numbering less than a thou- 
sand men. Santa Anna marched upon him 
with some two thousand regular soldiers. The 
rest of his army was in garrison at various 
points, engaged in small expeditions against 
123 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

different municipalities, or ravaging the help- 
less country. Many of his men had been 
killed or lay in hospitals grievously ill, or 
sorely wounded; and, save for the efforts of 
captured American physicians, very indiffer- 
ently cared for. 

Santa Anna took the best troops with him, 
including some five hundred chosen cavalry. 
In the light of subsequent events, it is prob- 
able that, with his one thousand Texans, 
Houston could have defeated Santa Anna's 
army. No one thought so at that time, how- 
ever. The Mexicans were regularly trained 
soldiers, serving under regular officers, and it 
seemed to Houston, in whom the entire hope 
of the people was then centered, that it would 
be unwise at that time to risk a battle, for the 
preservation of his army was vital to the 
future of Texas. 

Houston therefore determined upon retreat, 

hoping to gather forces as he went along, at 

the same time weakening Santa Anna's army 

by inveigling him further and further to the 

124 



SAN JACINTO 

eastward into the heart of the country, away 
from his base of supplies and out of reach of 
possible supporting columns. From a mili- 
tary point of view, his idea was sound. His 
strategy was good, but there were practical 
difficulties. If Houston had commanded regu- 
lar troops, his task would have been compara- 
tively easy, but it is difficult to keep together 
in a retreat an army of more or less irregular 
volunteers. Yet he succeeded in doing so. In 
spite of several defections by local bodies of 
troops, he kept his army from disintegrating 
while he slowly retreated clear across Texas, 
pursued by Santa Anna, until he reached the 
Brazos. 

The retreat was conducted under circum- 
stances of the most discouraging nature. The 
weather was frightful, the army marching 
under almost constant rains. It was also 
necessary to get the inhabitants out of those 
parts of the country through which the army 
passed, for otherwise the helpless women and 
children would be left to the mercies of brutal 
125 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

and ruthless Mexican invaders. The whole 
population fled before Houston, therefore, 
who continually interposed his army between 
the fugitives and Santa Anna. This exodus 
was known in local Texas history as " The 
Runaway Scrape.^^ In spite of every effort 
Santa Anna could not overtake the retreating 
Texans and bring them to battle. 

Obloquy and contempt were heaped upon 
Houston for not giving battle. His courage 
was impugned, his capacity questioned, and 
everything was done by his enemies to deprive 
him of the command. To all this he paid no 
attention. He knew what he was about and 
resolutely held to his course. When he got 
ready and he saw a fair opportunity, he would 
strike. Till then nothing could alter his stub- 
born determination. 

Suddenly Santa Anna quitted the immediate 
pursuit of Houston, who was then somewhat 
to the northward of him on the Brazos, and 
crossing that river with a heavy cavalry de- 
tachment turned southward for a dash at Har- 
126 



SAN JACINTO 

risburg, where the President and the Cabinet 
had their temporary headquarters. Houston 
had been reenforced by a small body of men 
and two six-pounders called the " Twin Sis- 
ters." These had been sent to Texas by the cit- 
izens of Cincinnati. The President and his 
Cabinet escaped from Santa Anna's rapid raid 
with great difficulty. Waiting till his infantry 
joined him, the Mexican general despatched 
one regiment toward Galveston to pursue the 
flying legislators, and then marched on New 
Washington. 

Houston was now ready to assume the 
offensive. Several mutinous and recalcitrant 
companies, which had withdrawn from him 
during the retreat, perceiving, before it was 
too late, the wisdom of Houston's course, now 
rejoined him. His total force was at this 
time about seven hundred and fifty men. 
Santa Anna was within the heart of Texas 
with perhaps fifteen hundred men, far from 
his base of supplies, and without the possibility 
of succor or reenforcement, should he need 
10 127 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

either. He was utterly unsuspicious that 
Houston had at last assumed the offensive. 
He made the not uncommon mistake of the 
successful commander of despising his ene- 
mies. His detachment of a regiment to pursue 
the President was a fatal blunder. 

Houston reached Harrisburg, which Santa 
Anna had destroyed, on the 18th of April, 
1836. Leaving its baggage wagons, the army 
crossed Buffalo Bayou in a leaky scow and a 
timber raft. The cavalry horses were forced 
to swim the river. At dawn on the twentieth, 
receiving intelligence that the Mexican army 
was at hand, Houston marched to the junction 
of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River. 
Santa Anna with twelve hundred men was at 
New Washington. He immediately marched 
to attack Houston. 

The armies came in contact that same af- 
ternoon. There was some skirmishing, but 
no decisive engagement. The Mexicans went 
into camp and threw up a flimsy entrenchment. 
On the morning of the 21st Santa Anna was 
128 



SAN JACINTO 

joined by five hundred cavalrymen under 
General Cos. The total force of the Texans 
was seven hundred and eighty- two. There 
were only two hundred bayonets in the Texan 
army. As the Mexicans outnumbered them 
more than two to one, the Texans expected to 
be attacked. The day wore away, however, 
without any movement being made by the 
Mexicans and Houston decided at last to begin 
the engagement himself. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon he ordered 
his small cavalry squadron and his two-gun 
battery to advance, the infantry following with 
their guns at a trail. The army band, which 
consisted of a solitary drum and fife, played 
a popular air, ^' Will you come to the bower? " 
The movement was screened from the enemy 
by two little islands or clumps of trees be- 
tween the Texans and the Mexicans. Hous- 
ton, wearing an old black coat, a black velvet 
vest, a pair of snuff-colored pantaloons, and 
dilapidated boots, with his pantaloons tucked 
into them, and carrying an old sword, led the 
129 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

advance. Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar was 
captain of the cavalry. Thomas J. Rusk, Sec- 
retary of War, commanded the left ; Burleson, 
the center; and Sherman, the right. As the 
Texans passed the islands and came in full 
view of the Mexican lines, Houston galloped 
up and down the line on a white horse shout- 
ing profanely, " G — d d — n you, hold your 
fire!" 

The place where the ensuing battle was 
fought was enclosed by marshes. There was 
only one safe way of retreat from it. That 
was by a road which led across the bayou, 
called the Vince's Bridge Road. When the 
army, now on a run, had come within a few 
hundred feet of the Mexican lines. Deaf Smith, 
a celebrated scout, dashed up, shouting that he 
had cut down Vince's Bridge and that there 
was no retreat. Like Cortez, Houston had 
burned his boats behind him. It was to be a 
case of conquer or die. The men did not 
think of retreating. Shouting " Remember 
the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember 
130 



SAN JACINTO 

La Bahia ! " they broke from the timber and 
rushed upon the Mexican camp. 

The surprise was complete. It had never 
occurred to the Mexicans that the Texans 
would have the temerity to attack so over- 
whelming a force. When the Americans burst 
upon them, Santa Anna was asleep, the cav- 
alry were watering their horses, the cooks 
were preparing the evening meal, and the sol- 
diers had laid aside their arms and were play- 
ing games. The Mexicans ran to their arms, 
but were driven from their breastworks by a 
well-aimed volley at close range. They actu- 
ally had no time to discharge their guns. The 
" Twin Sisters " did valiant service. In a 
few minutes the whole Mexican line was in 
hopeless retreat. Lamar, by a gallant dash 
with his eighty horses, drove the five hundred 
cavalrymen, struggling with their horses, in 
great confusion. Some of the Mexican officers 
bravely strove to rally and form their men, 
and put up a stout resistance, notably General 
Castrillon and Colonel Almonte, but in vain. 
131 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

The battle was over in fifteen minutes. The 
Mexicans scattered in every direction; some, 
hotly pursued by the Americans, ran toward 
the bayou; others fled into the marshes back 
of their camp, only to be shot as they stood 
enmired. Colonel Almonte rallied five hun- 
dred men under the trees, but they were panic- 
stricken and he could do nothing with them. 
They were surrendered in a body. Six hun- 
dred and thirty men, including thirty-three of- 
ficers, were killed on the field. Two hundred 
and eight, of whom eighteen were officers, 
were seriously wounded. Seven hundred and 
thirty were made prisoners. There were a few 
who escaped and many who were not account- 
ed for who perished in the marshes and rivers. 
The total Mexican loss was about seventeen 
hundred. There were eight Texans killed and 
twenty-three wounded. Santa Anna himself 
was captured the day after the battle. With 
him in Houston's possession, the war was over. 

The battle of San Jacinto was a small en- 
gagement, but one of great importance, for it 
182 



THE NEW REPUBLIC 

assured the independence of Texas.^ Nothing 
could have exceeded the dash and courage of 
the Texan force. Houston's maneuvering, his 
strategy before the battle, his tactics during 
it, were worthy of the highest praise. 

Flushed with its astonishing victory, the 
army was inclined to exact bloody revenge for 
the Mexican treatment of Travis and Fannin 
and their men. It was with difficulty that 
Houston preserved Santa Anna from the fury 
of the soldiers, who recalled the massacres and 
murders of which he had been guilty. Santa 
Anna was fearful for his life, naturally, and 
the more willing to recognize the Texan liepub- 
lic, or to do anything which would ensure his 
own safety, on that account. Houston carefully 
guarded the person of the Mexican Dictator, 
realizing the decisive importance of his cap- 
ture in determining the future of Texas. 

On May 14th, at Velasco, Santa Anna signed 
two treaties, a public and a private one, in 

* " I was thirty years too soon ! " exclaimed the ineffable 
Aaron Burr when he heard the news. 

133 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

which he agreed to the independence of Texas, 
and the withdrawal of all the Mexican troops 
in the territory. 

The treaties were ratified by General Fili- 
sola, upon whom the command of the Mexican 
troops devolved after Santa Anna's capture, 
and Texas was immediately evacuated. The 
Texans released Santa Anna. So soon as 
he reached Mexico, he disavowed the treaties, 
claiming that they were extorted from him un- 
der duress. As to that, it is certain that his de- 
sire for freedom and his fear for his personal 
safety, induced him to sign the treaties. Pay- 
ing no attention to this attitude of the Mexi- 
can government, the Texans at once assumed a 
place among the nations of the world. This 
place they maintained for ten years. 

An election for President was held in Sep- 
tember, 1836, and Sam Houston was chosen 
by an overwhelming majority over his com- 
petitors, Austin and Smith. Really, no man 
had done so much for Texas as Stephen F. 
Austin, but the glamour of Houston's decisive 
134 



TEE NEW REPUBLIC 

military success at San Jacinto was sufficient 
to give him the election by over five thousand 
votes, Austin and Smith receiving less than 
one thousand in the aggregate. Houston, 
wisely desirous of uniting all parties, made 
Austin Secretary of State, and Smith Secre- 
tary of the Treasury. 

Not counting Smith, who had been President 
of the Constitutional Convention, and Burnet, 
who had been President pro tem. until the reg- 
ular election could be held, Houston was the 
first President of the Texan Republic. An ar- 
ticle in the Constitution of Texas precluding a 
President from succeeding himself, except af- 
ter an interval of a presidential term, subse- 
quently caused the election of Lamar, who had 
distinguished himself while in command of the 
cavalry at San Jacinto, as the second Presi- 
dent. At the expiration of Lamar's term, 
Houston was reelected as the third President. 
Thereafter Anson Jones was elected as the 
fourth and last President. 

The scope of this monograph does not allow 
135 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

me to dwell further upon the internal history 
of Texas. Suffice it to say, in the words of 
her most recent historian : " Texas can scarce- 
ly be said to have had an enviable experience 
in its essay at independent self-government. 
During the ten years through which the effort 
lasted, the young republic, with small availa- 
ble resources and smaller credit, lived a hand- 
to-mouth existence and was constantly threat- 
ened with bankruptcy." ^ 

The United States officially recognized the 
republic on the 1st of March, 1837. France 
followed in 1839, Holland and Belgium in 1840 
and England in 1843. Mexico never fairly 
recognized the independence of Texas. She 
kicked spasmodically against the pricks of in- 
dependence, in fact. Desultory military op- 
erations were indulged in on both sides. The 
advantage from one point of view was on the 
side of the Mexicans, who captured several 
Texan expeditions, one against Mexico prop- 
er, another against Santa Fe. Mexico also 

* American Commonwealths — Texas. George P. Garrison. 

136 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 

seized San Antonio and Goliad on one occa- 
sion, although both places were promptly evac- 
uated on the approach of a Texan force. From 
another point of view, the honors were with the 
Texans, for the Mexicans gained no permanent 
advantage in their designs to subdue the re- 
volting territory. So far as Mexico was con- 
cerned, Texas was a fact accomplished, al- 
though Mexico steadfastly refused to admit it. 
Mexico could neither subdue Texas, nor would 
she acknowledge her independence — an im- 
possible position, and one which was bound to 
make trouble. 

Before continuing to record the general 
course of events, at this point it seems fitting 
to devote some space to Stephen F. Austin. 
His character and the services he rendered his 
country have been indicated during the course 
of this history. Dating from his Mexican con- 
finement, his health had been very indiffer- 
ent. On this account at first he refused to ac- 
cept the office of Secretary of State, but was 
finally prevailed upon to do so by the urgency 
137 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

of his friends. His weakened condition proved 
unequal to the strain of his duties and on the 
27th of December, 1836, in the forty-fourth 
year of his age, he died of pneumonia. He 
literally gave his life for his country. Well did 
the government in announcing his death, style 
him, " The Father of Texas." 

Most of the civic rewards at the disposal of 
a republic, I observe, go to the successful 
soldier rather than to the civilian, however 
eminent the civilian may be, and the name 
which is most popularly associated with Texan 
history is that of Sam Houston; but it is no 
disparagement to that doughty old fighter to 
place beside it, and it may be above it, the 
name of Stephen Fuller Austin; a pure and 
unselfish patriot, a devoted and disinterested 
public servant, a prudent and far-seeing states- 
man, a cultivated, high-minded gentleman, and 
a kindly and generous philanthropist. The 
integrity of his character, no less than the hon- 
esty of his motives, and the quality of his ser- 
vices, will forever appeal to the Texan youth. 
138 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 

The following memorabilia collected by Guy 
M. Bryan in A Comprehensive History of 
Texas, are both pertinent and interesting : 

'^ In Yoakum's account of Austin's funeral, he 
says, ' the nation has erected no monument to the 
memory of Austin, but this he did himself while 
he lived, in laying the foundation to a great State, 
and building it upon principles of moderation and 
freedom; Austin lived to see his work completed, 
his country free, prosperous, and happy.' Austin 
gave up his life, as he had given his best years, to 
Texas. Austin paid his own expenses (which were 
large) while in Mexico in 1833-34-35, and a bill 
for them was never presented to the government 
for payment, and remains unpaid. He pledged all 
his property to raise the first loan for Texas in 
New Orleans in 1836. ... He had two faith- 
ful servants, an old negro woman named Mary, 
who attended to his rooms, and a body-servant, 
a negro named Simon. He was neat in his 
person and clothing, avoiding everything like pre- 
tension, or that would attract attention to his 
dress. 

" In the earlier years of the colony he wore a 
suit of buckskin, made and presented to him by his 
friends, Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Long. It was dyed 
139 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

dark brown and thoroughly dressed, so that it was 
as pliant as woolen or cotton cloth. When in the 
City of Mexico he gave more attention to his per- 
sonal appearance, for the higher classes of Mexi- 
cans were fond of dress and gave great attention to 
their personal apparel. He was of simple but pol- 
ished manners, derived from his early education 
and associations in the best society of Lexington 
and St. Louis, of which he was a prominent mem- 
ber among the young. He was a graceful dancer, 
participating in the amusements of the occasion at 
the parties and balls of the ' old settlers,' making 
himself agreeable to the young and the old by his 
genial, unassuming, and pleasing manners. The 
' old settlers ' delighted to recount to the writer 
these and other scenes and the part Austin took in 
them; those were happy days to all of them, and 
were some compensation to Austin in his anxieties 
and troubles in founding civilization and an em- 
pire in the wilderness. His relatives never heard 
him utter an oath ; in all his private and public pa- 
pers nowhere has the writer found such, but always 
elevating thought and language. He had a few 
good books, some of which he studied for his guid- 
ance. The works of Anacharsis, which delineated 
the laws, governments, and greatest characters of 
Greece, formed one of them. He gave this book to 

140 



STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 

the writer, and told him that it had been ol service 
to him. 

'' He was a philanthropist, statesman, thought- 
ful student, and devoted patriot, free from all pre- 
tension, thoroughly honest, and truthful in all his 
ways. He loved Texas better than himself; she 
was his mistress ; he never married. 

" Williams, in his ' Life of Harrison,' says of 
him : ' Austin was a man of the highest charac- 
ter, of judicial moderation and prudence, as well as 
energy and perseverance. He appreciated the con- 
ditions on which a permanent and prosperous col- 
ony could be founded, and carried them out with 
rare tact and sagacity. He encouraged industry, 
and governed the lawless elements of the popula- 
tion by his weight of character and personal in- 
fluence. To him more than any other is due the 
creation of an American State in Texas. He was 
forced into political prominence by the demands 
of the times rather than any desire of his own, and 
was as modest and self-sacrificing as he was saga- 
cious and practical.' 

'' Bancroft, in his ' History of Texas,' says of 
him: ' Austin made self-assertion subordinate to 
the public weal. His sense of equity and his con- 
stancy, his perseverance and fortitude, his intelli- 
gence, prudence, and sagacity, and, lastly, his en- 

141 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

durance under persecution, benevolent forgiveness 
of injuries, and far-reaching philanthropy, mark 
him as no common person, and place him on the 
pedestal of great men. ' 

' ' His influence with the ' old settlers ' was great, 
for they had tried him, and knew he was worthy 
of their confidence. ' He was mild, modest, simple, 
disinterested, and, above all, unimpeachably just.' 
We may say of him what Anacharsis said of ' the 
greatest of Grecians ' : * A faithful portrait of his 
mind and heart would be the only eulogy worthy of 
Epaminondas. ' " 



142 



PAET II 

THE MEXICAN WAR AND ITS 

CONSEQUENCES 



CHAPTER VIII 
CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 



11 



CHAPTER VIII 

CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

The Mexican War resulted in the seizure by 
the United States of all the Mexican territory 
north of the Rio Grande and the Gila, together 
with a small strip below the Gila between the 
Rio Grande and the Colorado, which was ac- 
quired by the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. The 
cause of the Mexican War, as I have stated in 
the introductory chapter, was primarily a de- 
termination by the slave-holding states to ac- 
quire territory out of which future slave-hold- 
ing states could be constituted. Secondarily, 
it arose from the natural desire to push the 
western boundary of the United States across 
the continent to the Pacific in pursuance of 
the manifest destiny idea. 

After the annexation of Texas had brought 
the territory between the Sabine and Nueces — 
145 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

or the Rio Grande — within our boundaries, the 
government turned a covetous eye toward New 
Mexico and California. We had possession 
of Texas, with what justification there was, 
but there appeared to be no convenient or easy 
way of securing California. Several attempts 
had been made to purchase it but all had failed. 
Peaceful means having been exhausted, there 
remained nothing but the " stand and deliver " 
method of the highwayman. 

Dr. Henry William Elson, the most re- 
cent of our historians, says, referring to the 
incoming administration of President Polk: 
a i There are four great measures,' said the 
new President, with great decision, ^ which are 
to be the measures of my administration ' ; 
and these were a reduction of the tariff, the re- 
establishment of the independent treasury, the 
settlement of the Oregon boundary, and the 
acquisition of California." ^ 

^ History of the United States of America. The best single 
volume history of the United States I know of. In this con- 
nection the following letter from Dr. Elson is interesting • 

146 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

This is interesting testimony to the intent 
of the government with regard to the territory 
in question. The United States was to acquire 
the territory bordering on the Pacific, if not 
by one means then by another, whatever the 
claims of Mexico might be, or however much 
she might object to surrendering it to us. 

Our position, it was thought, would appear 
better if by any means Mexico could be forced 
to take the offensive and begin the fighting. A 
blow struck gives an excuse for a return, and 



2122 Natrona Street, Philadelphia, 
September 16, 1904. 
My Dear Dr. Brady. — You may remember having written 
me in July, requesting that I give authority for the statement in 
my history, page 524, that President Polk designated the acqui- 
sition of California as one of the measures of his administration. 
I was then about to start on a two-months' western tour and 
had not a moment to spare to look the matter up — but have 
done so since. 

See Schouler's History, vol. iv, p. 498, and foot-note. It 
seems that Mr. Bancroft gave the information to Mr. Schouler 
long after the occurrence. In view of the facts I should have 
cited Schouler's page when I wrote mine, but had not his vol- 
ume at hand and had forgotten my source of information. 

Very sincerely yours, 

Henry \V. Elson. 

147 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

such an action on the part of the enemy would 
unify and direct popular opinion — never so 
blind and unreasoning a guide as when war is 
imminent and threatened. 

Opportunities for the commencement of hos- 
tilities by Mexico were easily developed by the 
United States. First, there was the annexa- 
tion of Texas itself; second, the difference 
of opinion between Texas and Mexico with 
regard to the western boundary line of the 
Texan territory; third, a certain body of 
claims, made by citizens of the United States 
against the Mexican government, for which 
heavy pecuniary damages were demanded. 
In two of these subsidiary matters the United 
States was clearly in the wrong. I do not 
think that for the other, the annexation of 
Texas, the United States was censurable. 
That, at least, was not a proper cause for war 
on the part of Mexico ; nevertheless, it was cer- 
tain that Mexico would so regard it. 

I shall discuss the question of annexation 
first. The people of Texas, at the time Hous- 
148 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

ton was elected President, had declared with 
practical unanimity their desire for annexa- 
tion to the United States, only ninety-one 
votes being recorded against the proposition. 
It was well understood by the United States 
that there would be no objection on the part 
of Texas to annexation at any time. On the 
contrary, it was what the people of Texas 
were solicitous for from the very beginning 
— and the sooner the better. 

Naturally this was so, for practically all the 
people of Texas had come from the United 
States. The struggle for the balance of pow- 
er between freedom and slavery, which was not 
terminated until the close of the Civil War, 
made the Southern people, who were not only 
allied by ties of blood to the Texans, but were 
attracted to them by an identity of policies 
as well, anxious to incorporate Texas in the 
Union. They had viewed with great alarm the 
action of the Mexican government in abolish- 
ing slavery. Had that action prevailed in 
Texas, the slave states would have been cut 
149 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

off from the possibility of any further in- 
crease in their number in every direction. 

The territorial extent of Texas was so great 
that it was suggested that at least four slave- 
holding states could be created out of its ter- 
ritory. It had been the national policy — 
forced by the South — for many years to admit 
states in pairs, a Northern and a Southern, 
a slave and a free state, coming in together. 
In the House of Representatives, owing to the 
growing difference in population. Northern, or 
free states, were certain to get the predomi- 
nance. In the Senate, however, where each 
state had two votes independent of population, 
the balance of power could be, and was, pre- 
served by such methods. 

Putting aside the question of slavery, I 
think it was inevitable that Texas should be- 
come part of the Union, and that the United 
States should desire to incorporate it within 
its limits. There would be no rhyme or rea- 
son in the maintenance of an independent 
state on the Gulf of Mexico, with no natural, 
150 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

racial, or geographical barriers between it and 
the United States. That any other country 
should — if any were so disposed — assume by 
conquest or treaty to administer Texas, was 
clearly impossible. In any contingency, the 
annexation of Texas to the United States was 
unavoidable. Nor did the desire of Texas fail 
of response in the United States. For in- 
stance, General Andrew Jackson wrote pri- 
vately to William B. Lewis, on September 18, 
1843, as follows : 

^* I then determined to use my influence, after 
the battle of San Jacinto, to have the independence 
of Texas acknowledged, and to receive her into the 
Union. But that arch enemy, J. Q. Adams, rallied 
all his forces to prevent the annexation to the 
United States. We must regain Texas; peaceably 
if we can; forcibly if we must! ... I repeat 
that the safety as well as the perpetuation of our 
glorious Union depends upon the retrocession of 
the whole of that country, as far as the ancient 
limits of Louisiana, to the United States. ' ' ^ 

* American Statesmen, xvii: Andrew Jackson, by William 
G. Sumner. 

151 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

It will be observed from this quotation that 
the attempt was made to establish a claim to 
Texas on the ground that it was included in 
the limits of the Louisiana Purchase, and the 
annexation was often called a reannexation by 
the advocates of it. I think there was noth- 
ing in the claim; besides, if there had been, 
we were estopped from urging it by the treaty 
of 1828 with Mexico, in which we had recog- 
nized the boundaries as those of the treaty of 
1819 with Spain. 

Abel P. Upshur, Tyler's Secretary of State, 
wrote to our representative in Texas in No- 
vember, 1843 : " We regard annexation as in- 
volving the security of the South." ^ 

On the other hand, there were equally strong 
objections to annexation on account of the sla- 
very question. No less than eight free states 
formally petitioned against it when it was first 
mooted. The contrary opinion to those cited 
above was thus expressed by Daniel Webster : 

* American Statesmen, xxx : Charles Sumner, by Moorfield 
Storey. 

152 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

" While we feel as we ought about the annexa- 
tion of Texas, we ought to keep in view the true 
grounds of objection to that measure. Those 
grounds are — want of constitutional power, dan- 
ger of too great an extent of territory, and opposi- 
tion to the increase of slavery and slave repre- 
sentation. It was properly considered, also, as a 
measure tending to produce war. " ^ . 

The spirit in the country at large against 
annexation was too strong at first to render it 
advisable for the Southerners to bring up the 
question formally, but they lost no opportunity 
to urge it upon the country and to create a sen- 
timent in favor of it.^ The Democratic party 
generally favored annexation, while the new 
and promising Whig party, which had been 
growing in power at a rapid rate, opposed it. 
The opposition, however, had an element of 
weakness in that it was not so much an oppo- 

^ American Statesmen, xxi : Daniel Webster, by Henry Cabot 
Lodge. 

2 For an illuminating account, in brief compass, of the dis- 
cussion of this question see History of the People of the United 
States, by John Bach McMaster, vol. v, chap. liii. 

153 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

sition to the acquirement of territory, or to the 
intrinsic fact of annexation, as it was an op- 
position to slavery as a concomitant of annexa- 
tion. Aside from that, the advantages of an- 
nexation were many, the disadvantages few. 

If Mexico had been in a position to coerce 
the Republic of Texas, and had in fact put it 
down, the conditions would have been differ- 
ent. The case then would have been exactly 
that of those states which seceded in 1861, 
and which were coerced into remaining in the 
Union by those other states which denied the 
right of individual secession. Any attempt 
on the part of England, let us say, to annex 
South Carolina, at that time, or, to make the 
parallel more apparent, an attempt of Mex- 
ico adjoining Texas to annex Texas in 1861, 
whether with or without the consent of the 
Texans, would have been considered prepos- 
terous and would have resulted in war if 
persisted in. But the relations of Texas and 
Mexico after the battle of San Jacinto were 
not comparable to those between Texas or 
154 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

South Carolina or any other seceding state, 
and the United States in 1861-65. Texas 
declared, and then for ten years — the latter 
part of it being practically undisturbed — main- 
tained, her independence of Mexico. South 
Carolina declared her independence, and tried 
hard enough, goodness knows, but she could 
not maintain it. 

After the battle of San Jacinto, it became 
evident to everybody, except the Mexicans 
themselves, who simply would not see, that 
Mexico could not reconquer Texas. Texas be- 
came as free and independent a nation as any 
on the globe. It was equally evident that, so 
far as Mexico was concerned, Texas would 
remain free and independent. The great pow- 
ers of the world had recognized her. Her 
relation to Mexico was exactly that of Mexico 
to Spain, which had long refused to recognize 
the independence of Mexico, although it was an 
accomplished fact. The logic of events was 
absolutely against the survival of the Mexican 
claim of eminent domain over Texas. The 
155 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

fact of annexation, therefore, can not be con- 
sidered a legitimate cause of war on the part 
of Mexico. 

However, before annexation was finally 
brought about, the United States by a series 
of notorious breaches of international comity 
and a number of flagrant violations of inter- 
national law, aggrieved Mexico almost to the 
breaking point. 

For instance. General Edmund P. Gaines, 
commanding the United States forces at 
Natchitoches, whom we have seen on the Sa- 
bine River, sent troops to seize Nacogdoches, 
on the 4th of August, 1836. He was ordered 
to do this by the government at Washington, 
under the pretense of preventing Indian depre- 
dations. Nacogdoches was within the Texan 
limits, and, although Texas had declared her 
independence, inasmuch as we had not recog- 
nized it Nacogdoches was, so far as we were 
concerned, on Mexican territory. The United 
States justified this arbitrary procedure by 
saying that Mexico was unable to preserve 
156 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAB 

order within her own territory and restrain 
the Indians, and that common humanity con- 
strained it to seize Nacogdoches! All of this 
gave no little aid and comfort to the Texans. 

The Mexican Minister at Washington pro- 
tested vigorously against this armed invasion 
and demanded the instant withdrawal of the 
troops and an apology. His demands were re- 
fused. He thereupon asked for his passports 
and left the country. Again, in September, 
1843, Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, 
commanding the Pacific squadron of three 
ships, then lying at Callao, Peru, read a quota- 
tion from a New Orleans journal in a Boston 
paper which had been sent him, to the effect 
that Mexico had ceded California to Great 
Britain, and that England, which also had a 
squadron in the Pacific, was about to seize 
Upper and Lower California. Jones called a 
council of war of his ship captains and decided 
to anticipate the action of Great Britain. He 
sailed with all speed to Monterey, California, 
landed on the 19th of October, and without op- 
157 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

position took possession of the town and terri- 
tory in the name of the United States. The 
day after this brilliant feat of arms, finding he 
had been mistaken, he hauled down his flag, 
apologized and departed. The act was dis- 
avowed by the government and Commodore 
Jones recalled, but no censure whatever was 
visited upon him. Public opinion general- 
ly commended him for his promptness and 
decision. 

Upshur, at that time Tyler's Secretary of 
the Navy, in his report to Congress, under 
date of December 4, 1841, had said : 

'* In Upper California there were already con- 
siderable settlements of Americans, and others are 
daily resorting to that fertile and delightful coun- 
try. Such, however, is the unsettled condition of 
that whole country, that they can not be safe either 
in their persons or property, except under the pro- 
tection of our naval power." 

He also declared that, 

'* It is highly desirable that the Gulf of Califor- 
nia should be fully explored, and that this duty 

158 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

alone will give employment a long time to one or 
two vessels of the smaller class. ' * 

The Mexicans, therefore, were not feeling 
very kindly toward the United States while the 
question of annexation was being discussed. 
No specific attempt was made to annex Texas 
until Tyler became President. Martin Van 
Buren, who had succeeded Andrew Jackson, 
realizing that the power of the Whigs was so 
great that any attempt at annexation would 
probably fail, and further, that it would great- 
ly impair the chances of his reelection, already 
seriously endangered by the panic of 1837 and 
the disturbed financial conditions for which he 
was most unjustly held responsible, refused to 
take any steps to bring it about. He failed of 
reelection, however, and William Henry Har- 
rison, the first Whig President, who succeeded 
him, died a short time after his inauguration. 
He was succeeded on the 4th of April, 1841, by 
the Vice-President, John Tyler, of Virginia. 

Tyler was at heart a Democrat, although 
he had been elected by the Whigs and had 
12 159 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

engaged himself to uphold the principles of 
that party. He was probably the most un- 
popular President in our history. He betrayed 
the party that elected him and refused to carry 
out the policy to which it was pledged — sole 
instance of such action among our Presidents. 
The Whigs read him out of the party and 
stigmatized him a political Benedict Arnold. 
The Democrats received him after the Whigs 
were through with him with just about as 
much joy and affection as the English had 
manifested toward Arnold half a century be- 
fore. He was a President without influence 
and without party. 

John Fiske points out that no platform, or 
official declaration of principles, was adopted 
by the Whig Nominating Convention; that 
their informal platform was " Anything to 
beat Van Buren " ; but the measures advocat- 
ed by the Whig party were nevertheless thor- 
oughly well understood by Tyler and every- 
body else. It was these measures, notably 
those concerning finance, which Tyler prevent- 
160 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

ed from being enacted and which caused his 
unpopularity. Fiske finds a great deal in 
Tyler's actions to commend, and in estimat- 
ing his character and services seems to have 
chosen the middle course between those who 
condemn him absolutely and — but there are 
none who entirely support him. Witness the 
following : 

' ' As for Tyler, while we can not call him a great 
man, while for breadth of view and sound grasp of 
fundamental principles he is immeasurably below 
Van Buren, at the same time he is not so trivial a 
personage as his detractors would have us to be- 
lieve. He was honest and courageous, and in the 
defeat of Mr. Clay's theory of government he 
played an important and useful part. If he is 
small as compared with Jackson and Van Buren, 
he is great as compared with Pierce and Bu- 
chanan." ^ 

On the whole, I agree with Fiske, and it is 
with especial pleasure in this instance that my 
heart goes out to the under dog. 

* Essays Historical and Literary, vol. i. Chapter viii : Har- 
rison-Tyler and the Whig Coalition, by John Fiske. See also 
Letters and Times of the Tylers, edited by Lyon Gardner Tyler. 

161 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

One of Tyler's pet projects was the annexa- 
tion of Texas. Being a Southern slaveholder 
and fully committed to the Southern policy, 
this was natural. His Secretary of State,^ as 
has been noted, was also heart and soul for this 
cause. The untimely death of Upshur, by the 
explosion of a huge gun, " The Peacemaker," 
on the United States ship Princeton, on Febru- 
ary 28, 1844, prevented him from negotiating 
the treaty. Through the influence of Henry A. 
Wise, of Virginia, John C. Calhoun, of South 
Carolina, the original Southern secessionist, 
(John Quincy Adams was the original North- 
ern secessionist!), was persuaded to become 
Tyler's Secretary of State, solely and wholly 
for the purpose of effecting the annexation of 
Texas, upon which, as the best means of pro- 
moting the extension of slavery and preserving 
that zealously defended balance of power, his 
heart was set. One conviction of which Cal- 
houn affected to be possessed, and of the truth 

^ Upshur was Secretary of the Navy, 1841-43, and thereafter 
Secretary of State until his death in 1844. 

162 



CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR 

of which he strove to persuade his countrymen, 
was a fear that England would absorb Texas. 
I do not believe there was the slightest possi- 
bility of this, but it furnished a powerful argu- 
ment for annexation. The influence of Eng- 
land was, indeed, constantly exerted to secure 
the abolition of slavery in Texas. An anti- 
slavery party there was, already strong and 
growing stronger, but that England had any 
designs on Texas is no longer maintained. 
Von Hoist says : 

"Leading Texans — e.g., ex-President Mira- 
beau B. Lamar — had frequently declared that the 
anti-slavery party would soon acquire the ascend- 
ancy, and that the abolition of slavery could be ef- 
fected ' without the slightest inconvenience.' The 
most zealous advocates of annexation in Congress 
had emphatically indorsed this opinion, and Up- 
shur himself had written to Mr. Murray, ' If Texas 
should not be attached to the United States, she 
can not maintain that institution (slavery) ten 
years and probably not half that time. Calhoun 
held the same opinion. He informed Mr. Pakenham 
[the British Minister— C. T. B.] that the Presi- 
dent had ' the settled conviction that it would be 
163 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

difficult for Texas, in her actual condition, to resist 
what she (Great Britain) desires, without suppos- 
ing the influence and exertions of Great Britain 
would be extended beyond the limits assigned 
by Lord Aberdeen ' ; and he added, ' and this, if 
Texas could not resist the consummation of the ob- 
ject of her desire, would endanger both the safety 
and prosperity of the Union.' 

'' An independent Texas without slavery and 
the permanent continuance of slavery in the Union 
were, however, irreconcilable. ' ' ^ 

On April 12, 1844, Calhoun negotiated a 
treaty between Texas and the United States, 
but, to the great mortification of Tyler him- 
self, and in spite of all the pressure the ad- 
ministration could bring to bear upon the 
Senate, it failed of ratification in the Senate 
by a vote of 35 to 16. To such an extent 
had Tyler discredited himself with the people 
generally that many Senators who were really 
in favor of annexation voted against it be- 
cause it was his measure. 

^ American Statesmen, xxii : Calhoun, by Dr. H. Von Hoist. 

164 



CHAPTER IX 

CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 

CONTINUED— CONTRASTING 

OPINIONS 



CHAPTER IX 

CAUSES OF THE MEXICAN WAK, CONTINUED 

CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

Meanwhile, Mexico had abated some of her 
contentions. In 1845 the revolution deprived 
Santa Anna of his dictatorial powers and sent 
him into exile. President Herrera, who re- 
placed him, consented to recognize the inde- 
pendence of Texas and terminate the alleged 
war, provided Texas would pledge itself 
against annexation to the United States. To 
this proposition Texas had given no answer. 
The Presidential campaign of 1844 in the 
United States between the Whigs and Demo- 
crats, in which annexation was the crucial 
question, was decided by the election of James 
K. Polk, of Tennessee, candidate of the Demo- 
cratic party, who was strongly in favor of an- 
nexation, over Henry Clay, of Kentucky, the 
167 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

Whig candidate, who had opposed it or who 
ultimately favored it so guardedly as to render 
both the advocates and opponents of annex- 
ation uneasy and undetermined, thus losing 
himself the Presidency. This result of the 
election, which would bring Polk into office on 
the 4th of March, 1845, demonstrated conclu- 
sively the opinions of the majority of the peo- 
ple in favor of annexation. Such being the 
case, the friends of annexation realized that 
the sooner it was accomplished the better. 
They, therefore, took steps to make their 
dream an actual fact without waiting for the 
inauguration of Polk. 

This was brought about in a peculiar way. 
It was felt that the required majority of two- 
thirds for the ratification of another treaty 
could not even yet be counted upon in the 
conservative Senate which responds so slowly 
to popular demands. The annexationists de- 
vised an ingenious plan for securing annexa- 
tion by a joint, or concurrent, resolution of the 
two houses of Congress, which would only re- 
168 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

quire a bare majority in the Senate. There 
was no precedent for this method and many 
of the greatest authorities on constitutional 
law believed it — and still believe it — to have 
been unconstitutional.^ 

The Senate was willing to surrender its 
undoubted prerogative in the ratification of 
treaties, salving its conscience by inserting a 
clause which gave the President the option of 
bringing the matter about by treaty if he could, 
and the joint resolution was passed on the 28th 
of February, 1845. It was signed by Presi- 
dent Tyler on the 1st of March. One of the 
provisions of this resolution was as follows: 

' ' Such States as may be formed out of that por- 
tion of said territory lying south of 36° 30' north 
latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compro- 
mise line^ shall be admitted into the Union with or 
without slavery, as the people of each State asking 
admission may desire; and in such State or States 

* The question came up again over Hawaii, which was in- 
corporated into the United States by exactly the same method 
in 1898. These two cases have practically settled the question 
of constitutionality, I think. 

169 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

as shall be formed out of said territory north of 
the Missouri Compromise line slavery or involun- 
tary servitude (except for crime) shall be pro- 
hibited."^ 

This resolution was transmitted to Presi- 
dent Anson Jones, of Texas, who called a con- 
vention to meet on July 4, 1845. The Texan 
Congress having meanwhile agreed to the 
resolution, the convention ratified the action 
of Congress. The action of Texas was laid 
before the United States Congress by Presi- 
dent Polk on the first Monday in December, 
1845, being the first session of Congress after 
Texas accepted the proposition. A joint reso- 
lution for the admission of Texas as a state 
of the Union, having passed both houses, 
was approved by the President on the 29th of 
December, 1845. 

There were important differences between 
the terms of the Calhoun treaty, which had 
failed, and the joint resolution of annexation, 

^ Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol, iv, compiled by 
James D. Richardson. 

170 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

which had passed. In the treaty Texas was to 
be admitted as a territory and the ownership 
of her immense body of public lands was to be 
vested in the United States. A mandatory 
provision was inserted for the creation of fonr 
states out of the territory. By the joint reso- 
lution, Texas was admitted as a state, she re- 
tained her public lands, and her division into 
four states was made permissive, but depend- 
ent upon her own pleasure, and hence was not 
mandatory. 

Mexico had previously stated that the an- 
nexation of Texas by the United States would 
be regarded as tantamount to a declaration of 
war. Her minister demanded his passports so 
soon as the resolution was passed, and re- 
turned to his country. The minister of the 
United States naturally followed suit. All 
diplomatic intercourse was thus intermitted. 

While the relations between Mexico and the 
United States were in this state of tension, 
pending the commencement of actual hostili- 
ties, matters were further complicated by the 
171 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

action of President Polk. There was still a 
faint hope that difficulties between the two na- 
tions might be compromised — hope on the part 
of Mexico, I assume — and, in answer to an in- 
quiry from Polk, the Mexicans expressed their 
willingness to receive, during the interregnum, 
a commissioner from the United States, who 
might be empowered to discuss the questions 
at issue with view to an amicable adjustment. 
President Polk transcended the permission 
given him and appointed Mr. Alexander Slidell 
Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraor- 
dinary to Mexico. 

The Mexican government at that time, in 
addition to the disturbed foreign affairs, was 
confronting serious internal disorders. On 
the arrival of Slidell, the government was 
struggling for existence, and courteously asked 
him to refrain, for a short time, from present- 
ing his credentials as commissioner. There 
was a strong party in Mexico in favor of im- 
mediate war with the United States; and the 
party in power, which was desirous of settling 
172 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

the differences peaceably, if possible, did not 
wish to be subjected to the criticism which 
would ensue upon an immediate recognition of 
Mr. Slidell. The weight of Mexican public 
opinion was against further intercourse with 
the United States. 

Slidell, who was as tactful in politics as 
most of our ministers to Mexico had been, in- 
sisted upon presenting his credentials and de- 
manded recognition immediately, not as com- 
missioner, but as minister. The Mexicans, 
who had expressed no willingness to have a 
minister sent to them, being pushed to the 
wall, finally refused to receive or recognize 
Slidell in any capacity. He thereupon left 
the country in high dudgeon, adding another 
grievance to those carefully cherished and 
assiduously nursed by the administration; 
namely, that our duly accredited minister had 
been refused recognition by the Mexican ad- 
ministration, which had previously agreed to 
receive him — ^which was, of course, not true 
at all. Meantime, General Parades, the head 
173 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

of the War Party, was elected President of 
Mexico. 

Now as to our claims against Mexico. Pow- 
hatan Ellis, the American minister to Mexico, 
had been instructed on the 20th of July, 1836, 
to present fifteen specified claims of American 
citizens against the Mexican government, with 
a request for a reply thereto in three weeks. 
Ellis' instructions directed him, if a satisfac- 
tory reply were not given at the end of that 
time, to give the Mexicans two weeks longer 
and then ask for his passports. Two claims 
had been settled before Ellis could carry out 
his orders. On the 26th of September the 
thirteen claims remaining were presented, ac- 
companied by a remarkable statement that the 
United States, at that time, was not in posi- 
tion to prove some of these claims. The Mexi- 
can government promised to investigate the 
claims, pointed out the trivial nature of some 
of them, and at the same time referred the 
United States to that section of the treaty 
of 1831 which provided for the settlement of 
174 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

similar grievances through the courts of the 
respective signatories. 

This was not satisfactory to Ellis who, on 
the 20th of October, demanded an immediate 
reply under threat of withdrawal. Negotia- 
tions were continued, however, the Mexicans 
showing every disposition to deal fairly. On 
the 4th of November, Ellis delivered anoth- 
er ultimatum of " two weeks or passports." 
Meanwhile, five additional claims had been 
added to the thirteen. On the 7th of Decem- 
ber he demanded and received his passports. 
The Mexican government thereupon proposed 
that the claims, which were increasing at an 
alarming rate should be submitted to arbi- 
tration. 

The United States reluctantly agreed to 
this. The report of the arbitrators was de- 
livered in February, 1842. The Prussian 
minister had the final decision in the case of 
a disagreement between the Mexican and the 
American members of the court. The total 
amount of claims presented — and they had 
13 175 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

been growing all the time — was $11,850,578. 
Of these $5,568,975 were rejected ; $3,336,837 
had been submitted too late to be examined, 
and $928,627 were left undecided by the um- 
pire for want of time.^ Out of this total of 
$11,850,578, only $2,026,336 were allowed— a 
little more than one-sixth of the amount. 

While we are on the subject of claims, it 
may be added that, by the treaty closing the 
Mexican War, the United States agreed to set- 
tle these adjudicated claims, the greater por- 
tion of which had not been paid by Mexico, and 
further, to pay all additional claims against 
Mexico to an amount not exceeding $3,250,000. 
To settle these additional claims, commission- 
ers were appointed. They reported that the 
whole number of claims presented was two 
hundred and ninety-two. Forty of them 
were thrown out immediately as baseless. 
Seventy-two were rejected for want of evidence 
and one hundred and eighty were sustained. 
The sum total of $3,208,374.96, which included 

* Review of the Mexican War. William Jay. 

176 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

a large amount of interest, was awarded 
and paid by the United States.^ Thus the 
United States by its own commissioners, out 
of upward of fifteen million dollars of unset- 
tled claims — for they continued to grow like 
Jonah's gourd — found only three million dol- 
lars valid. Nor had these claims been of such 
a nature that they could not have been settled 
amicably without resorting to war. 

The Mexicans, accepting the result of the 
arbitration award in 1842, at first faithfully 
endeavored to carry out their part of the 
agreement. Three quarterly instalments of 
the principal were paid and the interest as well, 
until the growing animosity between the two 
countries caused Mexico to defer further pay- 
ment — nor can I seriously blame them for that 
action. The United States, however, worked 
these claims desperately in an effort to force 
a war upon Mexico. Upon the way we pressed 
them, the following throws an interesting light : 

^ Moore's History and Digest of International Arbitrations, 
vol. ii, pp. 123, 124, 125. 

177 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

" Claims were presented to the Mexican govern- 
ment, and satisfaction demanded in language so 
insulting that, as John Quincy Adams said, ^ No 
true-hearted citizen of this Union ' could witness 
the proceeding ' without blushing for his country.' 
In his annual message of December, 1836, Jackson 
saved appearances by adopting a comparatively 
temperate tone. But the number of American 
claims against Mexico, some of which were gotten 
up with the most scandalous disregard of decency, 
constantly increased, and with it the bullying vir- 
ulence of the demand. ' ' ^ 

The boundary question was much simpler 
than the two which have been discussed. By 
resolution of the Texan Congress, December 2, 
1836, the boundaries of Texas were declared 
to extend to the Rio Grande. There was not 
a shadow of justification for this claim. As a 
matter of fact, the western boundary of the 
Mexican State of Texas had been the states of 
Tamaulipas and Coahuila. The boundary be- 
tween Tamaulipas and Texas was the river 
Nueces and between Texas and Coahuila the 

» American Statesmen, xx : Henry Clay, vol. ii, by Cai'l Schurz. 

178 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

river Medina. Texas never succeeded in 
establishing her claim to the territory to the 
west of the Nueces, although she had tried to 
seize Santa Fe and failed lamentably. It is 
as certain as anything can be, that the Texan 
boundary line never had been, and was not 
at the time of annexation, the Rio Grande. The 
United States eagerly supported the extreme 
Texan claim, however. 

There were, then, four ostensible grounds 
for war — annexation, the claims, the boundary 
line, and the rejected minister. The Presi- 
dent of the United States forthwith furnished 
a fifth. He invaded the territory of Mexico 
by despatching General Zachary Taylor with 
some three thousand regular soldiers to the 
Rio Grande. There was nothing left but to 
fight. 

It may not be amiss to insert here, before 
considering the prosecution of the war against 
Mexico, quotations from two famous speeches 
which fairly enough give the opinions of those 
who favored, and those who opposed, the 
179 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

Mexican War. Both speeches, at the time, 
were widely circulated, vehemently discussed, 
and variously commented on throughout the 
country. The first was delivered in the 
House of Representatives on the 14th of 
April, 1842, by Representative Henry A. 
Wise, of Virginia, the administration leader 
of the house. 

' ' Texas has but a sparse population, and neither 
men nor money of her own to raise and equip an 
army for her own defense; but let her once raise 
the flag of foreign conquest — let her once proclaim 
a crusade gainst the rich States to the south of 
her, and in a moment volunteers would flock to her 
standard in crowds from all the States in the great 
valley of the Mississippi — men of enterprise and 
hardy valor before whom no Mexican troops could 
stand an hour. They would leave their own towns, 
arm themselves and travel at their own cost, and 
would come up in thousands to plant the lone star 
of the Texan banner on the Mexican capital. They 
would drive Santa Anna to the South, and the 
boundless wealth of captured towns, and rifled 
churches, and a lazy, vicious, and luxurious priest- 
hood would soon enable Texas to pay her soldiers, 

180 



J 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

and redeem her State debt, and push her victorious 
arms to the very shores of the Pacific. 

^' And would not all this extend slavery! Yes, 
the result would be, that before another quarter of 
a century, the extension of slavery would not stop 
short of the Western Ocean. . . . 

" Give me five millions of dollars, and I would 
undertake to do it myself. Although I don 't know 
how to set a single squadron in the field, I could 
find men to do it ; and, with five millions of dollars 
to begin with, I would undertake to pay every 
American claimant the full amount of his demand 
with interest, yea, fourfold. / would place Califor- 
nia where all the powers of Great Britain would 
never be able to reach it. Slavery should pour 

ITSELF ABROAD WITHOUT RESTRAINT, AND FIND NO 

LIMIT BUT THE SOUTHERN OcEAN. The Comauches 
should no longer hold the richest mines of Mexico ; 
but every golden image which had received the 
profanation of a false worship should soon be melt- 
ed down, not into Spanish milled dollars, indeed, 
but into good American eagles. Yes, there should 
more hard money flow into the United States than 
any exchequer or sub-treasury could ever circulate. 
I would cause as much gold to cross the Rio del 
Norte as the mules of Mexico could carry ; aye, and 
make a better use of it than any lazy, bigoted 

181 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

priesthood under heaven. I am not quarreling 
with the particular religion of these priests ; but I 
say that any priesthood, that has accumulated and 
sequestered such immense stores of wealth, ought 
to disgorge, and it is a benefit to mankind to scat- 
ter their wealth where it can do good. ' ' ^ 

The second was delivered in the United 
States Senate, at a later period, during the 
course of the war, by Thomas Corwin, Sen- 
ator from Ohio. 

** You have overrun half of Mexico — you have 
exasperated and irritated her people — you claim 
indemnity for all expenses incurred in doing this 
mischief, and boldly ask her to give up New Mex- 
ico and California; and, as a bribe to her patriot- 
ism, seizing on her property, you offer three 
millions to pay the soldiers she has called out to 
repel your invasion, on condition that she will 
give up to you at least one-third of her whole ter- 
ritory. . . . 

*' Sir, had one come and demanded Bunker Hill 
of the people of Massachusetts, had England's lion 
ever showed himself there, is there a man over thir- 
teen and under ninety who would not have been 

^ Quoted in Jay's Review of the Mexican War. 

182 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

ready to meet him? Is there a river on this conti- 
nent that would not have run red with blood? 
Is there a field but would have been piled high 
with the unburied bones of slaughtered Americans 
before these consecrated battle-fields of liberty 
should have been wrested from us ? But this same 
American goes into a sister republic and says to 
poor, weak Mexico, ' Give up your territory, you 
are unworthy to possess it; I have got one-half al- 
ready, and all I ask of you is to give up the other ! ' 
England might as well, in the circumstances I have 
described, have come and demanded of us, ^ Give 
up the Atlantic slope — give up this trifling territory 
from the Alleghany Mountains to the sea; it is 
only from Maine to St. Mary's — only about one- 
third of your republic, and the least interesting 
portion of it. ' What would be the response ? They 
would say, we must give this up to John Bull. 
Why ? ' He wants room. ' The Senator from Mich- 
igan says he must have this. Why, my worthy 
Christian brother, on what principle of justice? 
* I want room ! ' 

" Sir, look at this pretense for want of room. 
With twenty millions of people, you have about one 
thousand millions of acres of land, inviting settle- 
ment by every conceivable argument, bringing 
them down to a quarter of a dollar an acre and 

183 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

allowing every man to squat where he pleases. But 
the Senator from Michigan says we will be two 
hundred millions in a few years and we want room. 
If I were a Mexican I would tell you, ' Have you 
not room in your own country to bury your dead 
men? If you come into mine we will greet you 
with bloody hands, and welcome you to hospitable 
graves. ' 

'' Why, says the chairman of this Committee on 
Foreign Relations, it is the most reasonable thing 
in the world! We ought to have the Bay of San 
Francisco. Why ? Because it is the best harbor on 
the Pacific ! It has been my fortune, Mr. President, 
to have practised a good deal in criminal courts in 
the course of my life, but I never yet heard a thief, 
arraigned for stealing a horse, plead that it was 
the best horse that he could find in the country! 
We want California. What for? Why, says the 
Senator from Michigan, we will have it; and the 
Senator from South Carolina, with a very mistaken 
view, I think, of policy, says you can't keep our 
people from going there. I don't desire to prevent 
them. Let them go and seek their happiness in 
whatever country or clime it pleases them. 

' ' All I ask of them is, not to require this govern- 
ment to protect them with that banner consecrated 
to war waged for principles — eternal, enduring 

184 



CONTRASTING OPINIONS 

truth. Sir, it is not meet that our old flag should 
throw its protecting folds over expeditions for 
lucre or for land. But you still say you want 
room for your people. This has been the plea of 
every robber chief from Nimrod to the present 
hour."^ 

^ Quoted in American History Told by Contemporaries, 
vol. iv. Edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. 



185 



CHAPTER X 

THE MEXICAN WAR— GENERAL 
TAYLOR 



CHAPTER X 

THE MEXICAN WAR GENERAL TAYLOR 

As this is intended to be an inquiry into its 
political aspects rather than a military history 
of the Mexican War, I shall not go into the 
details of the military and naval operations, 
interesting as they are, but shall simply pre- 
sent such a conspectus of the war as will serve 
to render intelligible its diplomatic features, 
and the final settlement whereby the great spo- 
liation was completed. 

In population, in wealth, in intelligence, in 
stability, in organization, in all that goes to 
make a nation powerful, there was no parity 
at that time between the United States and 
Mexico. We were so far superior to the 
struggling republic to the south of us, that 
any comparison would be impossible. This 
should have made us more scrupulous not to 
14 189 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

take advantage of our weaker neighbor. Un- 
fortunately, it did not. 

During a large part of the period under dis- 
cussion, we had been engaged in an acrimoni- 
ous dispute with Great Britain over the north- 
west boundary of the United States, known at 
the time as the " Oregon Question." Public 
feeling ran high. " Fifty-four forty or fight ! " 
became a very catchy slogan. We had, we fan- 
cied, as much justice on our side, as many 
wrongs against us, and as valid claims for 
damages in the case of England as in the 
case of Mexico. Indeed, the situation in the 
Northwest was for a long time much more 
acute than in the Southwest. Yet the question 
in the Northwest eventually was settled by 
compromise and treaty. 

I do not say for a moment that we were 
cowardly or recreant to our duty, or that we 
jeoparded our honor in making that settle- 
ment. Quite the contrary. It was a judicious 
and a righteous thing to do, but it emphasizes 
the point that we should have done the same 
190 




GENERAL ZAC'HARY TAYLOR. 



GENERAL TAYLOR 

thing in the Southwest. How far the fact 
that Great Britain was a strong country and 
Mexico a weak one, brought about different 
methods of settlement, I shall not presume to 
say. Perhaps if the question of slavery had not 
obtruded itself, as, although it has been modi- 
fied in form by the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion, it still obtrudes, we might have been as 
calm, as equable and as just in the Southwest 
as in the Northwest. I recall a famous Old 
World motto which runs this way : " Mild with 
the lowly, rough with the strong." Whatever 
the causes, we reversed the clauses, for we 
were gentle with England, harsh with Mexico. 
Perhaps we coveted the territory to the south- 
west as being more valuable than that to the 
northwest. 

In June, 1845, Brevet Brigadier-General 
Zachary Taylor, an elderly colonel in the 
United States Army, who had distinguished 
himself in a minor command during the War 
of 1812, and had done good, if not notable, 
service in the succeeding period, was ordered 
191 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

to Corpus Christi, at tlie mouth of the Nueces 
River, with a small body of regular troops, the 
number of which was gradually increased dur- 
ing the ensuing summer and fall. The Ameri- 
can Congress, having formally constituted 
Texas a state in December, 1845, General 
Taylor, in January, 1846, was ordered to ad- 
vance to the Rio Grande, which he reached late 
in March. 

As I see it, this was an invasion of Mexi- 
can territory by an armed force of the United 
States. An act such as this has always been 
tantamount to a declaration of war, and this 
act was so regarded by Mexico. Four regi- 
ments of the regular army of the United 
States, with a small quota of cavalry and ar- 
tillery, had been ordered to report to General 
Taylor. At the same time he was authorized 
by the President to call for volunteers from 
Texas and Louisiana to defend our frontier. 
In March, 1846, Taylor established a supply 
depot at Point Isabel, on the Gulf of Mexico, 
a few miles north of the mouth of the Rio 
192 



GENERAL TAYLOR 

Grande. Thence he moved southward to the 
river and threw up, near its mouth, an en- 
trenchment, afterward called Fort Brown, 
opposite the Mexican town of Matamoras. 

General Pedro de Ampudia, in command 
of the Mexican forces at Matamoras, remon- 
strated with Taylor, calling attention to the 
flagrant violation of international law involved 
in the presence of the American army in the 
territory of Mexico, in the following procla- 
mation : 

'' To explain to you the many grounds for the 
just grievances felt by the Mexican nation, caused 
by the United States Government, would be a 
loss of time and an insult to your good sense. I 
therefore, pass at once to such explanations as I 
consider of absolute necessity. Your government 
in an incredible manner — you will even permit me 
to say an extravagant one, if the usages or general 
rules established and received among all civilized 
nations are regarded — has not only insulted but ex- 
asperated the Mexican nation, bearing its conquer- 
ing banner to the left bank of the Rio Bravo del 
Norte; and in this case, by express and definitive 
orders of my government, which neither can, will, 

193 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

nor should receive new outrages, I require you in 
all form, and at latest in the peremptory term of 
twenty-four hours, to break up your camp and re- 
turn to the east bank of the Nueces River while our 
governments are regulating the pending question 
in relation to Texas. If you insist upon remaining 
upon the soil of the Department of Tamaulipas, it 
will certainly result that arms, and arms alone, 
must decide the question ; and in that case I advise 
you that we accept the war to which, with so much 
injustice on your part, you provoke us, and that on 
our part it shall be conducted conformably to the 
principles established by the most civilized nations 
— that is to say, that the law of nations and war 
shall be the guide of our operations, trusting that 
on your part the same will be observed. With this 
view, I tender you the consideration due to your 
person and respectable office. 

'' God and Liberty! 

'' Two o'clock p. M., April 12, 1846." ^ 

Taylor, of course, refused to abandon his 
post. On April 14, Ampudia was superseded 
by General Mariano Arista, who determined to 
cross the river and force the Americans out of 
Mexico so soon as he could assemble a suffi- 

* History of the Mexican War, by General Cadmus M. Wilcox. 

194 



GENERAL TAYLOR 

cient force at Matamoras. No conflict between 
the armed forces had yet taken place, although 
several American stragglers had been cut off 
and killed by guerrillas. 

On the 24th of April, Captain Thornton, 
with sixty dragoons, met in a skirmish a much 
larger Mexican force, by which sixteen Ameri- 
cans were killed and the remainder captured. 
Each side has claimed that the other was the 
aggressor, and that upon the aggressor must 
lie the responsibility for the war. The deci- 
sion of the question is not important. The 
first act of aggression consisted in the invasion 
of Mexico by the American army and no quib- 
bling about Thornton's party can rid us of the 
blame of armed invasion, to say nothing of 
what went before. 

Learning that Arista was being reenforced, 
and realizing that he would soon be attacked, 
Taylor left an adequate garrison in Fort 
Brown, and on May 1st marched the remain- 
der of his little army back to Point Isabel in or- 
der to make safe his base of supplies. Arista 
195 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

conceived this to be a retreat. With some five 
thousand men he promptly crossed to the north 
bank of the Rio Grande to pursue Taylor. On 
the 3d of May he ordered the force at Mata- 
moras to bombard Fort Brown. 

Taylor hastened his preparations at Point 
Isabel and on May 7th marched back toward 
the sound of cannon. He was in some anxiety 
as to whether the fort could hold out until he 
relieved it. On the 8th, about three o'clock in 
the afternoon, Arista attacked him at a place 
called Palo Alto. The ensuing affair, which 
can hardly be dignified by the name of a battle, 
was fought mainly by artillery, in which, as in 
every other battle of the war, the Americans 
were greatly superior, not so much from 
weight of metal, or number of pieces, as from 
accuracy of aim, mobility, and rapidity of fire. 
The fighting ceased at dark and Taylor's men 
remained in possession of the field. Arista 
retired a few miles to the south and reformed 
his lines behind an extensive ravine, partially 
filled with water, called Resaca de la Palma. 
196 



GENERAL TAYLOR 

The loss on either side had not been serious. 
Technically, it was a victory for General Tay- 
lor. The enemy had attacked him, and he had 
driven him off, inflicting a much greater loss 
than he had received, and had remained on the 
field. Yet the Mexican army still greatly 
outnumbered his. Its effectiveness had not 
been appreciably diminished. The issue of 
the campaign therefore still remained to be 
decided. 

The next morning General Taylor held a 
council of war in which the usual conservative 
opinions were put forth. He listened to all 
that was said and closed the deliberations by 
ordering the officers to go to their commands, 
stating that in thirty minutes he intended to 
advance. He marched after Arista and at- 
tacked him at three o'clock in the afternoon. 
The battle was short, sharp and decisive. In 
spite of the shelter of the ravine, Taylor drove 
Arista from his carefully selected and highly 
defensible position. Such was the impetuosity 
of the American charges, especially on the part 
197 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

of the cavalry, which actually pierced the 
Mexican center, sabering the cannoneers of the 
battery in place there, and capturing the guns, 
that Arista lost control of his army, which 
finally fled in utter panic. The battle was a 
complete rout. The seizure of Matamoras 
followed a few days after. General Taylor 
had successfully won a foothold south of the 
Rio Grande. 

A comparison of force is interesting. In 
these two battles General Taylor's forces 
amounted to two thousand two hundred and 
eighty-eight. His losses were forty-eight 
killed and one hundred and twenty-nine 
wounded. General Arista's forces approxi- 
mated five thousand. His loss in killed and 
wounded and missing was over one thousand. 
The tale of lost men, however, did not measure 
the extent of Arista's disaster, for his baggage, 
public and private, his camp equipage, eight 
pieces of artillery and many small arms, were 
captured and the morale of his troops was 
greatly shattered. There were many who fled 
198 



GENERAL TAYLOR 

in terror before the American advance, and 
never returned to their colors.^ 

As an earnest of future success, the cam- 
paign was important. President Polk sent a 
special message to Congress on May 11th in 
which, after a specious attempt at a justifica- 
tion of the course of the United States, he 
had the unblushing effrontery to declare that 
" after reiterated menaces Mexico has passed 
the boundary of the United States, has in- 
vaded our territory and shed American blood 
on American soil," ^ and further, that '^ war 
exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to 
avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself." ^ 

Congress, artfully dodging a formal declara- 
tion of war by making use of Polk's ingenious 

^ All statistics of numbers engaged, losses, etc., in this and 
the next chapter are taken from the summaries in vol. x of the 
Messages and Papers of the Presidents. 

2 Abraham Lincoln serving his first term in Congress in the 
next fall, introduced a series of resolutions requesting the Presi- 
dent to state the exact spot where Mexico had shed the blood 
of our citizens on our own soil. These under the nickname of 
" The Spot Resolutions " attracted some little attention. 

' Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. iv. 

199 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

phrase, " war exists in Mexico," by a prac- 
tically unanimous vote — two hundred and 
twenty-four to sixteen, as the total for both 
houses — authorized the President to call for 
fifty thousand volunteers and placed a fund 
of ten million dollars at his disposal for the 
national defense and other expenses of this 
war brought about by the Mexican "inva- 
sion " ! 

Concerning this action, Henry Clay said in 
a speech at Lexington, Ky., that " no earthly 
consideration would ever have tempted or pro- 
voked him to vote for a bill with a palpable 
falsehood stamped upon its face." . . . "All 
the nations, I apprehend," he added, solemnly, 
" look upon us, in the prosecution of the pres- 
ent war, as being actuated by a spirit of 
rapacity, and an inordinate desire for terri- 
torial aggrandizement." ^ Never were truer 
words spoken. 

I do not for a moment suppose that Polk 

' American Statesmen, xx : Henry Clay, vol. ii, by Carl 
Schurz. 

200 



GENERAL TAYLOR 

thought he was doing anything wrong, or that 
he believed that his conduct had not been all 
that the conduct of a high-minded Christian 
statesman should be, which shows how easy 
it is for a man to find excuse and justification 
for whatever he wants to do. 

^' In religion, 
What damned error, but some sober brow 
Will bless it and approve it with a text. ' ' 

In the truth of that assertion lies one of the 
few resemblances between religion and politics. 
Certainly, it may be pointed out that many 
who helped to make up that great majority in 
Congress for the prosecution of the war, were 
not in favor of it. Yet, now that hostilities 
had actually begun, it was very hard not to 
espouse the cause of the United States, no mat- 
ter whose the fault. " My country, may she 
ever be right; but right or wrong, my coun- 
try," Stephen Decatur's famous phrase, has 
an appeal which it is difficult for the sternest 
patriot, the most inexorably righteous man, to 
201 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

disregard in favor of a sentiment like this: 
" Our country, may she always be right, but 
if she be not, let us make her so at all costs." 

All parties being now united, the war was 
prosecuted vigorously. Some of the oppo- 
nents thereto may have salved their conscience 
by a feeling that, possibly, in an energetic cam- 
paign lay the surest hope of a speedy settle- 
ment and so they made the best of a bad 
business. 

The majority of the people, carried away by 
the news of the fighting, became enthusiastic 
for the war. They always are in similar cir- 
cumstances. Taylor's victories were hailed 
with loud acclaim. The Democrats, who now 
made no effort to conceal their determination 
to seize all the Mexican territory between 
Texas and the Pacific, and whose course was 
entirely consistent, taunted the Whigs for sup- 
porting and voting supplies for a war which 
they did not believe justifiable. The taunt, 
which was unanswerable, rankled. 

To go back to our fighting — always the 
202 



GENERAL TAYLOR 

easier task — reenforcements were hurried to 
General Taylor and on August 19th, with six 
thousand six hundred and fifty men, he left Ca- 
margo, four hundred miles up the river, where 
he had established a new base of supplies, and 
marched down to capture Monterey, then as 
now, the most important city in northern Mex- 
ico, which was held by General Ampudia and 
ten thousand men, of whom seven thousand 
were regulars. After the hardest kind of fight- 
ing the Americans had yet encountered, lasting 
for two days, in a series of brilliant opera- 
tions, in which many formidable positions were 
carried by storm, and after a desperate defense 
by the Mexicans, Taylor, who was nobly sec- 
onded by General Worth, captured the town on 
the 24th of September. Taylor lost one hun- 
dred and twenty killed and three hundred and 
thirty-seven wounded. The Mexican loss was 
much greater. 

General Taylor was a Whig. Personally, 
he was not in sympathy with the policy of Polk 
and the Democratic party. He was a soldier, 
203 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

however, whose business it was to carry out 
the orders of his superiors to the best of 
his ability, and his ability was certainly of a 
high order. His personality, plain, simple and 
honest — so much so that his soldiers called 
him " Old Rough and Ready " — was attractive 
to the people. His victories exalted him to 
the status of a national hero and people began 
to talk of him for the Presidency. This was 
sufficiently disquieting to Polk and his friends 
at Washington, although Taylor attended 
strictly to his business and did not meddle 
with politics. 



204 



CHAPTER XI 
THE MEXICAN WAR— GENERAL SCOTT 



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CHAPTER XI 

THE MEXICAN WAR GENERAL SCOTT 

It was evident to every military man that the 
proper way to effect the conquest of Mexico 
was, not to attempt to seize the capital by 
marching down from the Rio Grande ; the most 
practicable access to the interior was along the 
line from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. 
The advance on this line might be more fierce- 
ly contested, but the line was much shorter, 
and, in spite of the mountains, the way much 
more practicable. The war would be sooner 
ended, and, as nobody doubted the final issue, 
time was a very important factor. 

The ranking officer of the United States 
Army was then Major-General Winfield Scott, 
who had won great distinction in the War 
of 1812, and was an accomplished soldier of 
international reputation. Unfortunately, for 
207 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the administration, he, too, was a Whig. He 
was also a much greater personage, much more 
of a politician, and man of affairs generally, 
than Taylor. When Taylor had become so 
prominent, the administration resolved to 
bring forward Scott in the hope of dividing 
the allegiance of the Whigs between these two 
military commanders, so that neither would 
become sufficiently formidable as a Presiden- 
tial candidate to cause disquiet to Polk at the 
next election. If they had had a general of 
their own political faith, with sufficient skill 
and capacity to be trusted with the conduct of 
the war, both Taylor and Scott would have 
been set aside. Indeed, after he had sent him 
to Mexico, Polk tried to supersede Scott by ap- 
pointing Thomas H. Benton, a lieutenant-gen- 
eral, and when Congress refused to permit this, 
the President asked for authority to place a 
junior over a senior, intending to appoint 
Benton a major-general and place him over 
Scott. This request was also refused. So 
Scott was perforce left in command. The 
208 




GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. 



GENERAL SCOTT 

administration did everything possible to em- 
barrass him, However, his division com- 
manders were all Democrats and were not in 
sympathy with him. 

To make an army for Scott, Taylor's 
veteran regular troops were taken away from 
him, raising Scott's total force to about 
twelve thousand men. With these he was 
ordered to begin a campaign toward the City 
of Mexico via Vera Cruz. Scott received just 
about one-half the force he had deemed neces- 
sary for the task. Nevertheless, he went about 
it with zeal and courage, determined to do 
his best. 

The naval force on the Gulf of Mexico had 
been commanded by Commodore David Con- 
nor, an officer of respectable attainments but 
nothing more. He had cooperated, so far as 
he could, with Taylor, but had effected little 
or nothing, considering the force at his dis- 
posal and the fact that Mexico had no navy. 
He was a prime seaman, however, if not a 
great captain. He disembarked Scott's army 
209 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

at Vera Cruz in a masterly way, without loss, 
on the 9th of March, 1847. The Mexicans, 
confident in the strength of the city, made no 
effort to prevent the landing of the Americans. 

The siege of Vera Cruz was immediately 
begun, and after enduring a furious bombard- 
ment for four days, the city capitulated on 
the 26th of March, 1847. The American loss 
was only sixty-seven wounded, the Mexicans 
lost one thousand in killed and wounded. 

Connor, whose term of sea duty in the Gulf 
had expired, was superseded by Commodore 
Matthew Calbraith Perry. Under his ener- 
getic and efficient direction, the navy made a 
vigorous campaign up and down the coast, 
taking every port on the shore, and others on 
the rivers which the sailors could reach. Scott 
with ten thousand men, a large part of them 
being from the regular army, and a moiety of 
these veterans who had been trained and dis- 
ciplined by Taylor, started across the moun- 
tains for the City of Mexico. To invade a 
country of the size of Mexico with such a force, 
210 



GENERAL SCOTT 

was an act of boldness and daring which 
stands almost alone in our history. Nor was 
this enterprise " a mere military promenade " 
as it has been sometimes sneeringly called. 
There was the hardest kind of fighting in 
this campaign, even if the Americans did win 
every battle. 

The Mexicans on their part had not been idle 
after the fall of Monterey. With the mistaken 
idea that Santa Anna would prove a friend to 
the United States, the government had sent a 
warship to bring him from Havana, to which 
place he had been exiled in a recent revolution, 
and had landed him at Vera Cruz. Whatever 
he was, or had been, Santa Anna chose the 
patriotic part on this occasion. He imme- 
diately declared for his country and against 
the United States. He was able to get himself 
elected President and then assumed command 
of the Mexican forces, which he concentrated 
at San Luis Potosi, midway between Monterey 
and Vera Cruz. 

Although Taylor's army had been depleted 
211 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

by the withdrawal of the bulk of his regulars, 
he still was in command of some five thousand 
men. Scott had recommended him to fall 
back to the Rio Grande, but it was not in 
Taylor's nature either to retreat or to re- 
main quietly where he was, doing nothing. He, 
therefore, led his men southward, captured 
Saltillo, and advanced through the mountains 
with his army, threatening the south. Santa 
Anna thought he saw a chance to crush him. 
Scott would soon arrive before Vera Cruz and 
thereafter he knew he would have to deal with 
Scott's army. San Luis Potosi was admirably 
situated to cover both points now threatened. 
Santa Anna, who showed many of the quali- 
ties of a general, determined to rush a large 
army to the north and overwhelm Taylor. He 
thought he would be able to do this and still 
get back to the south in time to confront Scott. 
With imperious energy, he organized an 
army of twenty thousand men, including about 
five thousand cavalry, and by a forced march 
of about five hundred miles appeared before 
212 



GENERAL SCOTT 

General Taylor on the 22nd of February, 1847. 
Taylor had received notice of Santa Annans 
advance and had retired to a famous defile in 
the mountains, the pass of Angostura, a mile 
south of the large hacienda of Buena Vista and 
about six miles south of Saltillo. Deducting 
the garrison of Saltillo, Taylor had about 
forty-seven hundred men with which to hold 
the pass. Ninety per cent of these men were 
volunteers who had never been in action. 

There was some heavy skirmishing on the 
22nd, the advantage being with Santa Anna, 
but nothing decisive had been attempted. 
That night General Taylor, after making the 
rounds of his lines, rode back to Buena Vista 
and Saltillo to bring up every available man 
to the fighting line for the morrow's battle, and 
to satisfy himself that everything was right 
with his base of supplies, which was threat- 
ened by a large detachment of Santa Anna's 
cavalry. 

The battle ground of Buena Vista lies be- 
tween two ranges of mountains. Near the east 
213 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

range is a narrow pass. Extending from this 
pass to the west is a plateau about a mile wide, 
which is broken by tremendous ravines ter- 
minating on the slope of the mountains. 

At 2 A. M. on the 23rd, Santa Anna put his 
army in motion. At dawn the battle began. 
The fighting line was under the immediate 
command of General John E. Wool, a veteran 
and approved soldier. With his batteries, sup- 
ported by some infantry and cavalry, engag- 
ing the right of the line which held the narrow 
part of the pass, Santa Anna concentrated the 
bulk of his army on the American left. 

The conflict on the extreme left was desper- 
ate. Conditions on the right and front were 
menacing and Wool did not dare detach any 
of his men to succor the left. The line, in 
truth, was much too long for the small Ameri- 
can force to hold against such overwhelming 
superiority as the Mexicans enjoyed. The 
Mexicans avoided the ravines by advancing 
along the slopes of the mountains and turned 
the American left. Finally an Indiana regi- 
214 




^J^p-k(' 2 i 



r 




GENERAL SCOTT 

ment was seized with panic and fled, and, 
despite the efforts of other troops, the line 
was gradually forced back by the overwhelm- 
ing onslaught, most of the soldiers fighting 
desperately and contesting every foot of the 
ground. 

General Taylor, leading Colonel Jefferson 
Davis' fine regiment of Mississippi riflemen, 
came on the field early in the morning. Wool, 
who had been fighting heroically, remarked 
to his commander that the army was whipped. 
" That," said Taylor calmly, " will be for me 
to determine." He checked the advance of the 
enemy by throwing Davis' riflemen against 
them, thus giving the left wing of his army 
time to halt and reform. These Mississip- 
pians were brilliantly led, and fought with the 
greatest courage. The lines were reformed, 
guns were brought up, and a furious battle 
raged all over the plateau and through the 
ravines until evening. 

The Mexicans tried again and again to 
crush the American left. At the same time 
215 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

determined assaults were made on the right 
and center ; but everywhere they were repulsed 
with terrible slaughter. As usual, the decid- 
ing factor in the battle was the American ar- 
tillery, which was managed and served with a 
skill, rapidity and brilliancy worthy of the 
highest praise. Sometimes, without support 
from the infantry, the artillery checked the 
Mexican rushes. The carnage among the 
Mexicans was fearful. The casualties among 
the Americans were also very severe. Com- 
pletely baffled in his purpose by the heroic con- 
stancy of Taylor and his men, Santa Anna at 
last withdrew from the field, acknowledging 
a bitter defeat. 

I regard Buena Vista as one of the decisive 
battles of the war, and perhaps the decisive 
one, for if Santa Anna had overwhelmed Tay- 
lor, as one time he was so near doing, he would 
have led back to attack Scott an army flushed 
with victory and Scott would have required a 
vastly larger force than he had at his disposal 
to carry out his brilliant campaign. What- 
216 



GENERAL SCOTT 

ever Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma had 
been, Buena Vista was a real battle and a 
splendid victory. Ultimately it made General 
Taylor President of the United States. The 
American loss was seven hundred and forty- 
six, the Mexican over two thousand.^ 

Defeated, but not dismayed, with an energy 
for which he deserves great credit, Santa Anna 
led his shattered army back a thousand miles 
to confront Scott after the fall of Vera Cruz. 
By making use of every resource, including his 
private means, he reorganized the army and 
with fifteen thousand men, took a strong posi- 
tion in the mountains of Orizaba at the pass 
of Cerro Gordo. There, on the 18th of April, 
Scott attacked him with eight thousand men. 
Santa Anna had neglected to fortify a 
commanding height, never dreaming that the 
Americans could scale its crest. Scott, whose 
engineering corps ^ was remarkable for its 

« It was in this battle that Taylor sent his famous despatch 
to one of his batteries, " A little more grape, Captain Bragg." 
2 Robert E. Lee, Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Henry W. Halleck, 

217 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

efficiency, was apprised of the situation, the 
height was seized, the Mexican lines were taken 
at a disadvantage, and by a general charge on 
flank and in front, the pass was taken by storm. 
Santa Anna fled so precipitately that he left 
behind him his wooden leg.^ The American 
loss was sixty-three killed and three hun- 
dred and ninety-eight wounded; the Mexican, 
twelve hundred killed and wounded and three 
thousand captured. 

After the battle Scott seized the city of 
Jalapa and the great fortress of Perote with- 
out any resistance to speak of ; and then, fol- 
lowing the route made famous by Cortez over 
three hundred years before, he led his army 
over the mountains and occupied the important 
city of Puebla. There, having received re- 
enforcements which enabled him to repair the 
loss made by sickness and casualties of battle, 

George B. McClellan, Joseph E. Johnston and George G. 
Meade were among his engineer oflRcers. 

^ This is perhaps the principal fact that the average person 
recalls about the Mexican War ! It is interesting, of course, 
but it had no bearing on the determination of the issue. 

218 



\ 



GENERAL SCOTT 

with some ten thousand men of all arms of the 
service, he began his famous campaign against 
the City of Mexico on the 7th of August. 

He approached the Mexican capital from 
the southward. On the 20th of August, in a 
series of brilliant engagements among the lava 
beds — El Pedregal — or Padierna, or Contre- 
ras, and at the village of Churubusco on 
the same day, he overwhelmed the Mexicans 
under General Victoria in the first battle and 
under Santa Anna himself in the second. 
The American loss on that day of hot but 
brilliant fighting, was ten hundred and fif- 
teen; the Mexican, five thousand eight hun- 
dred and seventy-seven. 

After the battle of Churubusco, Scott ad- 
vanced to within sight of the capital, there 
halted his army, proposed an armistice, and 
sent forward Mr. Nicholas B. Trist, Commis- 
sioner from the United States to Mexico, who 
had accompanied the army, offering Mexico a 
treaty of peace. 

This was an act of great magnanimity on 
16 219 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the part of the American captain, which should 
be noted. Scott could have taken possession 
of the capital then and there without much 
difficulty, but he gave an opportunity to Mr. 
Trist to tender proposals for peace without 
subjecting Mexico to that humiliation. The 
Mexicans, however, inspired by Santa Anna, 
were not at all certain that the war had been 
ended, and, convinced that the opportunity for 
defeating Scott was still open, after delaying 
matters with Mr. Trist — whose demands they 
regarded as impossible — until they could fur- 
ther reorganize their forces, they practically 
terminated negotiations by a counter ulti- 
matum. These propositions are discussed in 
the succeeding chapter, so as not to break the 
thread of the narrative of military movements. 
Scott was prompt to take up the challenge. 
On the 7th of September he officially termi- 
nated the armistice, the Mexicans having giv- 
en abundant excuse. The strongest outpost of 
the fortifications of the capital was a castle 
upon the famous rock of Chapultepec. The 
220 



GENERAL SCOTT 

base of this rock was defended by forts and 
works, the key to which was an old stone mill 
called Molino del Rey. This mill was cap- 
tured after a furious battle on the morning of 
September 8th, by troops under the immediate 
command of General Worth, upon whom Scott 
had imposed the congenial duty. Worth put 
thirty-one hundred men in action against four- 
teen thousand Mexicans, not all of whom were 
actively engaged. The American loss was pro- 
portionately heavier than in any battle of the 
war, being seven hundred and ninety-nine, 
or nearly twenty-six per cent. The Mexican 
loss was over three thousand. The fighting 
had been the fiercest kind of a hand-to-hand 
struggle. 

Chapultepec was bombarded for two days 
and then stormed with great gallantry on the 
13th of September by the divisions of Pillow, 
Twiggs and Quitman. The Mexicans had 
fought bravely in every battle — there can be 
no mistake about that. The country was torn 
by dissensions and the proper efiiciency of the 
221 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

army hindered by divided councils and con- 
flicting purposes ; moreover, the men were ill- 
paid, worse equipped, badly drilled, raw and 
undisciplined, and ignorantly officered. But 
whenever there was actual fighting, they fought 
bravely and well. Sometimes they piled the 
ground with American slain. General Grant 
has borne testimony to their courage in many 
instances. Chapultepec was especially re- 
markable for the valiant resistance of the Mexi- 
cans. On the top of the rock was located the 
Mexican Military Academy and the youths un- 
dergoing training at that institution proved 
their right to the title of soldiers by the heroism 
of their defense. 

Scott did not lose a moment after the storm- 
ing of the castle. The same day he launched 
his columns at the City of Mexico. The 
ground around that ancient city was marshy, 
and the walls were approached by long, broad 
and well-paved causeways. Some of these 
causeways carried stone aqueducts on arches 
down the middle. There was fierce hand-to- 
222 




THE STORMING OF CHAPULTEPFX". 
From the original painting by Powell. 



GENERAL SCOTT 

hand fighting from arch to arch, but finally 
the columns of Worth and Quitman stormed 
the San Cosme and Belem gates and Scott ef- 
fected a lodgment in the city that night. The 
Mexicans fled the city, and Scott and his army 
marched in the next day. This time the war 
really was over. 

Scott, at Chapultepec and the attack on the 
city gates, had eight thousand men in action, 
of whom he lost eight hundred and sixty-two ; 
the Mexican force was twenty-five thousand, 
not all of them being actively engaged. This 
army was defeated, demoralized and scattered 
in retreat; in killed, wounded, captured and 
missing, it is estimated that Santa Anna lost 
over ten thousand men in that day's fighting, 
most of the loss being in captured and missing. 
"Both the strategy and tactics displayed by 
General Scott in these various engagements 
were faultless," was the testimony of Ulysses 
S. Grant, then a second lieutenant of infantry 
in Scott's army.^ 

' Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. 

223 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

The other military operations may be 
briefly summarized. The navy held the east 
coast of Mexico. On the west coast of Cali- 
fornia squadrons under Commodores Sloat, 
Stockton, Shubrick and Biddle successively — 
Stockton having the good luck to do most of the 
work — had been equally successful in coopera- 
tion with John C. Fremont, " the Path-finder," 
and General Stephen W. Kearny, and the 
whole extent of territory from the forty-second 
parallel of latitude to the mouth of the Gulf 
of California was actually in the possession of 
the Americans. All the southern ports as far 
as Acapulco were blockaded. Colonel Doni- 
phan had seized Chihuahua after a famous 
march; General Kearny had taken Santa Fe, 
and the whole country north of the Kio Grande 
and the Gila was in possession of the Ameri- 
can Army. There was desultory fighting in 
different parts of Mexico for a short time, but 
even the most patriotic Mexican realized the 
utter hopelessness of the Mexican cause. 

General Grant, who served with Taylor as 
224 




S I 



GENERAL SCOTT 

well as Scott in the Mexican War, said that 
" both of these generals deserve the commen- 
dations of their countrymen, and to live in the 
grateful memory of this people to the latest 
generation." He also approved heartily of 
most of the generalship displayed and declared 
that both Taylor and Scott " had such armies 
as are not often got together, and that a better 
army, man for man, probably never faced an 
enemy than the one commanded by General 
Taylor in the earlier engagements." ^ This is 
high praise, for officers and men, from one 
who knew whereof he affirmed, and to which it 
is a pleasure to call attention. 

* Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. 



225 



CHAPTER XII 
FIRST EFFORTS AT NEGOTIATION 



CHAPTER XII 

FIEST EFFORTS AT NEGOTIATIOlSr 

I SHALL now consider first, the proposition of 
the United States made during the armistice ; 
second, the counter proposition of Mexico, 
which brought about the termination of the 
armistice; and, third, the conclusions which 
were finally embodied in the treaty by which 
hostilities were terminated and peace assured. 

Mr. Nicholas P. Trist, our commissioner, 
was a man of some experience in diplo- 
macy and of respectable talents for nego- 
tiation. He was persevering, courteous, tact- 
ful, conciliatory, but unyielding. He had 
learned tenacity in a rare school as the private 
secretary of President Andrew Jackson. His 
powers were ample. His instructions were 
comprehensive. Roughly speaking, he was 
directed to propose peace to Mexico upon 
229 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

the cession of all territory north of the Rio 
Grande and the Gila, including the penin- 
sula of Lower California. For this, in an 
attempt to justify a high-handed proceeding 
and change a theft into a forced sale, he was 
authorized to otf er a sum not exceeding twenty 
millions of dollars. The Mexican government 
rejected this proposition unanimously and pre- 
sented a counter project, which proposed to 
fix the boundaries between the two countries 
as follows: 

** Commencing in the Gulf of Mexico, three 
leagues from land, opposite the southern mouth of 
the bay of Corpus Christi [the boundary] shall 
run in a straight line from within the said bay to 
the mouth of the Nueces River, thence through the 
middle of that river in all its course to its source, 
from this point in a straight line until it meets the 
present frontier of New Mexico on the east-south- 
east side until it touches the thirty-seventh degree, 
which will serve as a limit to both republics, from 
the point in which it touches the said frontier of 
the west of New Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. ' ' ^ 

1 History of the Mexican War, by General Cadmus i\I. Wilcox. 

230 



FIRST EFFORTS AT NEGOTIATION 

This proposal, while it did not yield all that 
the United States demanded, was a tremen- 
dous concession. The vast extent of territory 
thus delimited included the greater part of 
Texas, all of Utah, practically all of Nevada 
and the upper part of California. The thirty- 
seventh parallel of latitude is the northern 
boundary of the present territories of New 
Mexico and Arizona, which, with all of 
California below Santa Cruz, on the north 
shore of the Bay of Monterey about ninety 
miles below San Francisco, together with 
the lower peninsula, hapless Mexico sought 
to retain. 

In transmitting this proposition, the Mexi- 
can commissioners accompanied it with a note, 
which in its simplicity, its honesty, and its 
dignity, and coming as it did from a weaker 
power to a stronger, from a conquered country 
to its conqueror, reflects the highest credit on 
the Mexican commissioners, besides furnishing 
one of the best explanations as well as justifi- 
cations of the position of their country : 
231 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

" Article 4th of the pro jet, which you were 
pleased to deliver to us on the evening of the 27th 
ultimo, and which was discussed at our previous 
conferences, imports the cession of part of Mexico : 
1st. The State of Texas. 2d. Of the territory with- 
out the limits of the said State, which extends to 
the left bank of the Bravo and to the southern 
boundary of New Mexico. 3d. All New Mexico. 
4th. Of the two Calif ornias. 

" The war which now exists has been caused 
solely on account of the territory of the State of 
Texas, to which the Republic of North America 
presents as a title the act of the same State by 
which it annexed itself to the North American Con- 
federacy, after having proclaimed its independence 
of Mexico. The Mexican Republic agreeing (as we 
have manifested to you that it does) on account of 
the owing indemnity, to the pretensions of the Gov- 
ernment at Washington to the territory of Texas, 
the cause of the war has disappeared, and it should 
cease, since all the reasons for continuing it have 
ceased to exist. In regard to the other territories 
comprehended in the fourth article of your projet, 
until now the Republic of North America has urged 
no claim, nor did we believe it possible that any 
could be alleged. It then could not acquire them 
by right of conquest, or by that which would re- 

232 



FIRST EFFORTS AT NEGOTIATION 

suit from sale or cession, to which it would now 
force Mexico. But as we are persuaded that the 
Republic at Washington would not only absolutely 
repel but would hold in odium the first of these 
titles, and as, on the other hand, it would be a new^ 
thing that war should be made upon a people for 
the simple reason that it refuses to sell a territory 
which its neighbor wishes to purchase, we hope, 
from the justice of the government and people of 
North America, that the great modification which 
we have to propose of the cession of territory 
(without the State of Texas), which is claimed in 
the said article 4, will not be considered a motive 
for continuing a war which the worthy General of 
the North American forces has justly characterized 
as uncommon-desnaturalizanda. 

" In our conferences we have declared to you 
that Mexico can not cede the belt of land compre- 
hended between the left bank of the Bravo and the 
right of the Nueces. The reason of this is not only 
the full certainty that the stated territory never 
has belonged to the State of Texas, nor that it is of 
great value considered in itself. It is that this 
zone, with the Bravo at its back, forms the natural 
frontier of Mexico, as much in a military as in a 
commercial point of view ; and of no people should 
it be claimed, nor should any people consent to 

233 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

abandon such a frontier. But, in order to remove 
all cause for dissension for the future, the Govern- 
ment of Mexico binds itself not to found new set- 
tlements or establish colonies in the space between 
the two rivers ; in this manner preserving it in the 
depopulated state in which it now exists, present- 
ing equal security to both republics. The preserva- 
tion of this territory is, according to our instruc- 
tions, a condition sine qua non of peace. Senti- 
ments of honor and delicacy (which your noble 
character will cause you to estimate properly), 
more than a calculation of interest, prevent our 
government from consenting to the dismemberment 
of New Mexico. On this point we believe it to be 
superfluous to add anything to what we have al- 
ready stated to you in our conference. 

" The cession of Lower California, little profita- 
ble to North America, offers great embarrassments, 
considering the position of that peninsula opposite 
our coasts of Sonora, from which it is separated by 
the Gulf of Cortez. 

' ' You have given to our observations on this sub- 
ject their true value, and we have learned with sat- 
isfaction that you have been convinced by them. 

*' Besides the preservation of Lower California, 
it would be necessary for Mexico to retain a por- 
tion of the upper; otherwise that peninsula would 

234 



FIRST EFFORTS AT NEGOTIATION 

remain without land communication with the re- 
mainder of the republic, which would always be a 
great embarrassment, especially for a non-mari- 
time power such as Mexico. The cession of the part 
of Upper California offered by our government 
(for the compensation) will not bring to the United 
States merely fertile lands and intact mineral 
wealth, but presents the advantage of an inter- 
rupted communication with its territory of Oregon. 
The wisdom of the Government of Washington and 
the energy of the American people will know how 
to draw abundant fruits from the acquisition which 
we now offer them. . . . 

*' We have entered into this ingenuous explana- 
tion of the motives of the republic for not ceding 
all the territory beyond the boundaries of Texas 
which is required of it, because we desire that the 
government and North American people should be 
convinced that our partial negative does not pro- 
ceed from sentiments of aversion generated by the 
events of this war, or by what it has caused Mexico 
to suffer, but only from considerations dictated by 
reason and justice, and which would equally in- 
fluence at any time with the most friendly peo- 
ple, and in the midst of relations of the strictest 
amity. . . . 

" The salutary work of peace can not, in our 

1'^ 235 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

opinion, come to a happy termination if each one 
of the contending parties should not resolve to 
abandon some of its original pretensions. This has 
in all cases happened and all nations have not hes- 
itated in such cases to make great sacrifices to ex- 
tinguish the desolating flame of war. Mexico and 
the United States have special reasons for acting in 
this manner. Not without sorrow ought we to con- 
fess that we are giving to humanity the scandalous 
example of two Christian peoples of two repub- 
lics in the view of all the monarchies, who, for a 
dispute concerning boundaries, mutually do them- 
selves all the injury that is possible, when we have 
more land than is sufficient to populate and culti- 
vate in the bountiful hemisphere in which Provi- 
dence has cast our lot. ' ' ^ 

Had the United States been at war simply 
for the settlement of the western boundary of 
Texas, and to secure the payment due its citi- 
zens from Mexico of amounts which had been 
awarded by the agreement of 1842, but which 
had never been paid, certainly here were con- 
cessions great enough to have satisfied all the 
demands of the most exacting advocate of the 

' History of the Mexican War, by General Cadmus M. Wilcox. 

236 



FIRST EFFORTS AT NEGOTIATION 

war, which had been, in the language of its 
promoters, undertaken " to conquer peace." 
But the United States had determined upon 
what it would have and it would be content 
with no less. Vcb Victim. Trist's orders were 
peremptory as to the greater part of the de- 
mand. He had no authority to substitute the 
Mexican proposition for his own, although he 
had been authorized to concede Lower Cali- 
fornia to Mexico, and had professed his will- 
ingness so far to abate his original demand. 
As to the rest, so well were the sentiments of 
the administration known to Trist that he did 
not think it worth while even to refer the 
Mexican proposition to the President. 

The armistice had been maintained with 
some difficulty and there had been violation 
upon both sides. Perceiving that the com- 
missioners of the two powers had come to an 
impasse and that further negotiations would 
be useless, Scott notified Santa Anna that he 
considered the armistice terminated and ad- 
vised him to be governed accordingly. 
237 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE FINAL SETTLEMENT 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE FINAL SETTLEMENT 

After the capture of the city and the sub- 
sequent collapse of the Mexican defense, Mr. 
Trist proposed the reopening of negotiations 
looking toward peace, with the provisional 
President, Manuel de la Pena-y-Pena, the 
senior judge of the Supreme Court, who had 
succeeded Santa Anna when Santa Anna re- 
signed in disgust. The proposition met with 
a favorable reception, but nothing could be 
done until Congress met and elected a Presi- 
dent ad interim. On January 8, 1848, Pedro 
Maria Anya was chosen to this position and 
Peiia became his Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
The Mexican Congress authorized them to con- 
clude a treaty of peace with the United States, 
which was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo on 
February 2, 1848. 

241 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

After the failure of his first effort, Trist 
had been recalled by President Polk, but he 
had not yet returned to the United States. Be- 
lieving that the desire for a settlement of the 
war was paramount at Washington, and that 
such a settlement on the lines of his origi- 
nal instructions was certain to be ratified, Mr. 
Trist disregarded the fact that his commis- 
sion had lapsed, and negotiated and signed 
the treaty on the part of the United States, 
Mexico knowing that he had no authority to 
do so, but nevertheless consenting to negotiate 
with him. In this treaty poor Mexico was 
forced to accede substantially to the settlement 
which she had rejected only a few months be- 
fore. President Polk transmitted the treaty 
to the Senate with the •following explanation: 

* ' I lay before the Senate, for their consideration 
and advice as to its ratification, a treaty of peace, 
friendship, limits, and settlement, signed at the 
city of Guadalupe Hidalgo on the 2nd of Feb- 
ruary, 1848, by N. P. Trist on the part of the 
United States, and by plenipotentiaries appointed 

242 



THE FINAL SETTLEMENT 

for that purpose on the part of the Mexican 
Government. 

' ' I deem it to be my duty to state that the recall 
of Mr. Trist as commissioner of the United States, 
of which Congress was informed in my annual mes- 
sage, was dictated by a belief that his continued 
presence with the army could be productive of no 
good, but might do much harm by encouraging the 
delusive hopes and false impressions of the Mexi- 
cans, and that his recall would satisfy Mexico that 
the United States had no terms of peace more fa- 
vorable to offer. Directions were given that any 
propositions for peace which Mexico might make 
should be received and transmitted by the com- 
manding general of our forces to the United States. 

'' It was not expected that Mr. Trist would re- 
main in Mexico or continue in the exercise of the 
functions of the office of commissioner after he re- 
ceived his letter of recall. He has, however, done 
so, and the plenipotentiaries of Mexico, with a 
knowledge of the fact, have concluded with him this 
treaty. I have examined it with a full sense of the 
extraneous circumstances attending its conclusion 
and signature, which might be objected to, but con- 
forming as it does substantially on the main ques- 
tions of boundary and indemnity to the terms 
which our commissioner, when he left the United 

243 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

States in April last, was authorized to offer, and 
animated as I am by the spirit which has governed 
all my official conduct toward Mexico, I have felt 
it to be my duty to submit it to the Senate for their 
consideration with a view to its ratification. ' ' ^ 

For his courageous action in negotiating 
this treaty Mr. Trist deserves the thanks and 
approval of his countrymen. The sooner the 
war was stopped and peace declared, the 
better it would be for all concerned. Polk 
blamed his commissioner severely; why, it is 
difficult to understand, since Trist had fulfilled 
his directions to the letter. Certain sections 
of the treaty are interesting. Article 5 defines 
the boundary line as follows : 

'' The boundary line between the two Republics 
shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues 
from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, or opposite 
the mouth of its deepest branch, if it should have 
more than one branch emptying directly into the 
sea; from thence up the middle of that river, fol- 

* Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. iv, by James 
D. Richardson. 

244 



THE FINAL SETTLEMENT 

lowing the deepest channel, where it has more than 
one, to the point where it strikes the southern 
boundary of New Mexico; thence, westwardly, 
along the whole southern boundary of New Mexico 
(which runs north of the town called Paso) to its 
western termination; thence, northward, along the 
western line of New Mexico, until it intersects the 
first branch of the river Gila (or, if it should not 
intersect any branch of that river, then to the point 
on the said line nearest to such branch, and thence 
in a direct line to the same) ; thence down the mid- 
dle of the said branch and of the said river, until 
it empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across 
the Rio Colorado, following the division line be- 
tween Upper and Lower California, to the Pacific 
Ocean/' 1 

The first section of Article 12 provided for 
a payment for the territory ceded, as follows : 

" In consideration of the extension acquired by 
the boundaries of the United States, as defined in 
the fifth article of the present treaty, the govern- 
ment of the United States engages to pay to that of 
the Mexican Republic the sum of fifteen millions of 
dollars." 

' Treaties and Conventions Between the United States and 
Other Powers Since July 4, 1776. 

245 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

Of this teum three million dollars were to be 
paid on the ratification of the treaty and the 
remainder in four annual instalments with in- 
terest at six per cent, per annum on the de- 
ferred payments. Inasmuch as we had the 
power to impose our own terms upon Mexico, 
which was completely prostrate and absolutely 
helpless, there is a certain amount of magna- 
nimity in our volunteering this sum of money 
in payment for territory we had taken, and for 
which we need not have paid a cent. But the 
fact that we did pay this money of our own free 
will can not be urged as justification of our 
previous course. Articles 13, 14 and 15 of the 
treaty settled the claims of United States citi- 
zens against Mexico, as already referred to. 

The ratifications of this treaty were ex- 
changed at Queretaro on the 30th of May, and 
it was proclaimed on the 4th of July, 1848. 
The armies were then withdrawn, another 
phase of the long question was settled, and the 
United States remained free to pursue peace- 
ful methods in organizing all the territory be- 
246 



TEE FINAL SETTLEMENT 

tween the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean.^ 
Thus was the great spoliation completed. 

By this settlement the United States added to 
its territory a country larger in extent than the 
original thirteen colonies. The actual value 
of this acquisition was known to be great, and 
the future value of it was believed to be 
greater; but no one at that time realized the 
potentialities of it; possibly no one fully re- 
alizes them now. Out of it were created the 
Empire State of Texas, the scarcely less im- 
perial domain of California, the flourishing 
commonwealth of Utah, the promising state of 
Nevada, and the growing territories of New 
Mexico and Arizona. From it also came the 
larger part of Colorado, together with smaller 
portions of Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. 

In every consideration it is a land of con- 
trasts. Across it are stretched huge mountain 

* In 1854, the Gadsden Purchase, of some thirty thousand 
square miles south of the Gila, for which the United States paid 
Mexico ten million dollars, fixed a new boundary line. This 
was purely a matter of amicable negotiation and calls for no 
special comment. 

247 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

ranges whose snow-capped peaks tower unto 
the skies. These mountains abound in gold, 
silver, iron and other valuable metals, as well 
as coal. Within the ranges lie valleys as fer- 
tile as they are fair. Grass mantled plains 
spreading far and wide from the mountain 
slopes and foothills invite the pasturage of 
the world. Cattle and sheep by millions find 
there a feeding ground. The greatest expanse 
of timbered lands in the republic, uncut since 
creation, is found upon vast plateaus upheaved 
a mile above the level of the sea. In other sec- 
tions great wastes of sand and desert land 
abound, as the Staked Plains, the Painted Des- 
ert ; some of it even lies below sea level, where 
the heat is tropic in intensity and the dryness 
terrible in degree, as in Death Valley. 

Every product of the temperate zone and 
every product of the tropic belt are found 
there. Pines and palms, firs and cacti, grow- 
ing side by side, typify the contrast as well as 
wheat and cotton, tobacco and apples, oranges 
and olives. 

248 



TEE FINAL SETTLEMENT 

The range of climate is equally great from 
the cold of the snow-capped mountains, through 
the temperate, bracing air of Utah, the cool, 
invigorating weather of the table lands of 
Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, and the semi- 
tropic atmosphere of California, to the intense 
heat of the extreme southern portion. 

There, too, are to be found the most curious 
and interesting of the aboriginal races. The 
Indian still exists in all states of whatever civ- 
ilization he has attained, from the wretched 
" Digger " of California to the enlightened 
Zuni and Navajo. And there is the home of 
the greatest native race of fighters — whatever 
their other characteristics — that America has 
produced, the terrible Apache. 

Withal, it is a most wonderful section of our 
country. I have not been everywhere, nor 
have I seen everything, but I dare affirm that 
the Grand Canyon of the Colorado Eiver, in 
Arizona — ^by universal comment the most sub- 
lime natural wonder in the world — is the only 
thing the realization of which exceeds every 
249 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

possible preconception. No matter how ex- 
travagantly it may be described, nor what 
advanced ideas the mind may form of it, the 
reality far transcends the imagination. No 
human being ever looked at it with disappoint- 
ment. To try to describe it is almost like seek- 
ing to tranomel the infinite with the limitations 
of language. 

But the Grand Canyon is not all. There 
are other canyons and mountains which for 
beauty and majesty challenge the world. And 
there are wonders which need not the attrac- 
tion of magnitude to delight the soul. The 
petrified forests, the trees of the past turned 
into stone by the Gorgon touch of time — the 
dejecta membra of primeval days, almost as 
old when the Pyramids were builded, or when 
Terah died in Haran, as they are to-day — glit- 
tering on the soil beside the mesas of soft gray 
tufa and making the face of the world like an 
overturned jewel casket, are scarcely less in- 
teresting than the Grand Canyon. 

It is a land of mystery as well. There are 
250 



THE FINAL SETTLEMENT 

the caves of the Cliff Dwellers ; there the pre- 
historic remains of older races, whose hiero- 
glyphics mock the scientists ; there the peoples 
that have gone and left no sign, of whom only 
do we know that they were — the rest is silence. 

Who that has seen these things can forget 
them? 

And it is a land of rare beauty, too. The 
giant redwoods of Mariposa are not more 
wonderful to the student of nature than the 
gnarled dwarf cedars of the uplands, the sage- 
brush of the desert. That desert swimming 
in the heat, void of vegetation, bordered like 
a Roman Senator's toga with the purple of dis- 
tant hills, the marvelous blend and play of 
brown and yellow and red and violet; the 
clarity of the air above it, the brightness of the 
stars that look upon it — all this has an attrac- 
tiveness, a fascination, that once felt will ever 
after be remembered. 

And in many places, by the persuasive witch- 
ery of irrigation, that desert is being made to 
blossom like a rose. Some day, when all the 
18 251 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

local sources of water supply shall liave been 
exhausted — and in some places they have not 
been touched — some genius, some heaven-sent 
benefactor, with a Moses-rod, will smite the 
rock and flood the thirsty land which gives 
forth its life so abundantly when it has half a 
chance. Or perhaps from the air or from the 
sea the water will be drawn. Come it must, 
and come it will, and teeming millions of the 
future will occupy the now deserted spaces. 

Well may Mexico think sadly of what she 
lost, well may the United States be thankful 
for the terrible expiation of national wrong 
that was required and paid for in 1861-65; 
and, with a hope that the slate has been wiped 
clean, that the score has been settled, with 
chastened soul and kindly heart essay to do 
better in the future. "What doth the Lord 
require of thee, people, but to do justly and 
to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy 
God " among men and nations, great or small, 
forever? 



252 



CHAPTER XIV 
WHAT IT COST— A CHEAPER WAY 



CHAPTER .XIV 

WHAT IT COST A CHEAPER WAY 

I SAID in the beginning of this book that the 
Conquest of the Southwest added the largest 
increment of territory to the original bound- 
aries of the United States which the country 
has ever received. 

There is a prevalent opinion that the Loui- 
siana Purchase included a greater area than 
the transaction under discussion. I wrote to 
the General Land Office to settle the question 
and received the following reply sustaining 
my contention. 

" Washington, D. C, August 4, 1904. 
'* Complying with the request contained in your 
letter of June 20, 1904, and reiterated July 28, 
1904, I have to state that the areas of the cessions 
to the United States by Mexico and France, which 
you designate as ' The Conquest of the Southwest, ' 
and the Louisiana Purchase territory as delimited 
by the treaty of 1819 with Spain, have been care- 
fully estimated by this office, as appears below : 

255 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

" Area of Louisiana Purchase, excluding the 

territory abandoned by treaty of 1819 

with Spain 825,715 sq. mi. 

Texas annexed in 1845 389,795 sq. mi. 

Ceded by Mexico, in 1848. . . 530,049 " 
Gadsden Purchase, 1853. . . . 29,964 " 

Total 949,808 " 

Difference in favor of territory designated 

as ' The Conquest of the Southwest ' over 

Louisiana Purchase, delimited by treaty 

of 1819 124,093" sq. mi. 

^' The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803, 
as delineated by red border line on the General 
Land Office map of the United States of 1903, is 
905,760 square miles. 

** The fact that France, in 1803, ceded territory 
which in 1819 was abandoned to Spain by the 
United States, should not deprive the Louisiana 
Purchase of any fraction of the 905,760 square 
miles last noted above, and, on the other hand, the 
portion delimited by that treaty should very prop- 
erly be considered as a part of the territory ceded 
by Texas in 1845 ; so that the area through * The 
Conquest of the Southwest,^ amounting to 949,808 
square miles, is greater than the Louisiana Pur- 
chase of 1803, amounting to 905,760 square miles, 
by 44,048 square miles. 

* * The area of territory ceded by France in 1803, 

256 



WHAT IT COST 

and in ' The Conquest of the Southwest,' is 1,775,- 
523 square miles. 

*' Very respectfully, 

'* John H. Fimple, 

*' Acting Commissioner/^ 

It will be seen that even crediting France 
with that portion of the territory lying south 
of the Arkansas River and west of the hun- 
dredth meridian, which was afterward re- 
leased to Spain by the treaty of 1819, the Con- 
quest of the Southwest is greater by forty-four 
thousand square miles, and disregarding the 
portion mentioned by one hundred and twenty- 
four thousand square miles. 

As to population the balance is greatly in 
favor of the Louisiana Purchase, as is shown 
by the following letter from the Acting Di- 
rector of the Department of Commerce and 

Labor : 

" Washington, August ^4, 1904. 

' ' I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor 
of the 13th instant, in which you request an esti- 
mate of the population of the Louisiana Purchase, 
and * The Conquest of the Southwest.' In reply 
thereto, I take pleasure in enclosing you herewith 

257 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

my estimate of the population June 1, 1900, in the 
accessions of territory described by you, and as out- 
lined on the Land Office map of 1902. You will 
note that the population in the strip of territory 
bounded by the Mississippi river, the Perdido 
river, and the 31st parallel of latitude, is given 
separately, and may be added to my estimate of 
the Louisiana Purchase, if desired. This is the ter- 
ritory commonly referred to as ' in dispute with 
Spain. '1 

" Trusting that the estimates enclosed will an- 
swer your purpose, I am 

" Very respectfully, 

'' Edward McCauley, 
'* Acting Director.^'' 

Estimated population, Louisiana Purchase, in 
1900: 

Including the complete States of Arkan- 
sas, Indian Territory, Iowa, Missouri, and 
Nebraska, and portions of the States of 
Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, 
Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South 
Dakota, and Wyoming: 

13,439,721. 

' This has nothing to do with the question under discussion 
and I have disregarded it. 

258 



WHAT IT COST 

Note. — This estimate does not include the ter- 
ritory in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi 
bounded by the Mississippi river on the west, the 
Perdido river on the east, and south of the 31st 
parallel of latitude, and referred to as the ' ' Terri- 
tory in dispute with Spain. ' ' The estimated popu- 
lation in 1900 of this area is 252,590. 

Estimated population, " The Conquest of the 
Southwest," in 1900: 

Including the complete States of Cali- 
fornia, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and 
Utah, and portions of Colorado, Kansas, 
Oklahoma, and Wyoming : 
5,263,272. 

With this knowledge of the extent and pop- 
ulation of " The Conquest of the Southwest " 
it will be interesting to determine as nearly as 
may be just what the territory cost us. We 
assumed and paid the claims of our citizens 
against Mexico to the amount of over three 
millions of dollars. We paid fifteen millions 
indemnity by the Treaty of Peace. We added 
ten millions to the Mexican exchequer by the 
Gadsden Purchase. We gave Texas ten mil- 
259 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

lions for the reUnquishment to the United 
States of her extravagant claims to the west- 
ward of the present boundary line. I estimate 
the military expenses of the war as at least 
eighty millions and the naval as ten mil- 
lions more. I arrived at these figures for the 
army and navy by a comparison between the 
military and naval appropriations for two 
years prior to the war and the actual amount 
expended during the war and for one year 
after, all figures being taken from the official 
reports of the Secretary of War. I followed 
the same process with regard to the navy, and 
think the figures resulting, as shown in the 
following table, which I have given above in 
round numbers, are sufficiently accurate : 

Appropriation for the United States 

Army for the year of 1844 $3,123,433.00 

Appropriation for the United States 

Army for the year of 1845 3,909,766.30 

3) $7,033,199.30 

$3,516,599.65 av. 1844-45 
4 
Amount for four years under ordi- 
nary conditions $14,066,398.60 

260 



WHAT IT COST 

Appropriation for the United States 

Army for the year 1846 $6,778,082.67 

Appropriation for the United States 

Army for the year 1847 32,478,461.38 

Appropriation for the United States 

Army for the year 1848 46,975,439.62 

Appropriation for the United States 

Army for the year 1849 10,612,371.94 

Total war expenses $96,844,355.61 

Average four years 14,066,398.60 

Excess over average $82,777,957.01 

Appropriation for the United States 

Navy for the year 1844 $6,134,757.63 

Appropriation for the United States 

Navy for the year 1845 5,224,660.66 

2) $11,359,418.29 

$5,679,709.14 av. 1844-45 
4 

Amount for four years under ordi- 
nary conditions $22,718,836.56 

Appropriation for the United States 
Navy for the year 1846 $6,501,703.16 

Appropriation for the United States 
Navy for the year 1847 7,495,694.70 

Appropriation for the United States 
Navy for the year 1848 9,075,330.10 

Appropriation for the United States 
Navy for the year 1849 10,570,608.71 

Total navy expenses $33,643,336.67 

Average four years 22,718,836.56 

Excess over average $10,924,500.11 

261 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

The Pension Commissioner infonns me that 
up to July 1, 1904, we have paid the enormous 
sum of over thirty-five millions for service 
pensions on account of this war. To this sum 
may be added an amount which I estimate as 
between three and four millions for disability 
pensions. These items may be summed up as 
follows : 

Claims of Mexico — assumed and paid $3,208,374.96 

Amount of indemnity awarded by the Treaty of 

Peace 15,000,000.00 

Interest on deferred payments 1,800,000.00 

Gadsden Purchase 10,000,000.00 

Paid Texas for the relinquishment of her west- 
em claims 10,000,000.00 

Army expenses 80,000,000.00 

Navy expenses 10,000,000.00 

Pensions 38,662,130.35 

Total $168,670,505.31 

As will be seen by the foregoing table the 
total of these several amounts is over one hun- 
dred and sixty-eight and a half millions of dol- 
lars. It will be safe to call it one hundred and 
seventy millions of dollars. In other words, 
we paid about one hundred and eighty dollars 
262 



WHAT IT COST 

for each square mile of territory, or thirty-two 
dollars for each member of the population 
to-day.^ 

Suppose, convinced that we must have this 
territory to round out and complete our na- 
tional domain, that we had gone to Mexico 
and offered her twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, 
or even one hundred millions of dollars? We 
would have been greatly the gainer from a 
financial point of view even if she had de- 
manded the highest figure, and as a matter of 
opinion, I do not believe there would have been 
any hesitation on her part in eagerly agreeing 
to the lowest figure. Even if she had taken 
advantage of our evident desire, to insist upon 
as much as one hundred and seventy millions 
we would still have been the gainer if we had 
paid it rather than have gone to war. The loss 

^ It has been estimated that the cost of the Revolution was 
upward of one hundred and seventy millions of dollars. We 
paid France for the Louisiana Purchase fifteen millions of 
dollars. The price of Alaska was seven million two hundred 
thousand dollars, and the Philippines cost us twenty millions 
in cash to Spain, besides the enormous expenses of the war. 

263 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

of life in the war on our side was considerable. 
The disorganization of various sections of our 
people was still greater and it is impossible to 
state in definite terms what other consequences, 
deleterious and harmful to us either as in- 
dividuals or a people, ensued from this na- 
tional buccaneering enterprise. Certainly we 
would not have stained our otherwise reason- 
ably clean escutcheon with the ineffable blot 
of injustice and oppression. Yet the individ- 
ual who should have proposed to satisfy the 
land-grasping spirit of the United States, and 
at the same time secure the peaceful coopera- 
tion of Mexico by paying what would be con- 
sidered such an extravagant sum as fifty mil- 
lions of dollars, to say nothing of the larger 
amounts, would have been laughed to scorn. 
All this goes to show how much cheaper almost 
any settlement is than war. There are times 
when nations apparently must fight, but they 
should realize when they do fight that they are 
indulging in a luxury, and that they are at- 
tempting to adjudicate their differences by the 
264 



WHAT IT COST 

most costly of all methods. This is a material 
argument for peace which is not without 
weight. Nations may do well to ponder upon 
it before they have recourse to arms. 

To complete this statistical chapter I sub- 
join a letter from the Military Secretary of 
the War Department, courteously sent me in 
answer to a letter of inquiry which I had ad- 
dressed to him : ^^^ T 7 ^. .r.^. 

" Washington, July 23, 1904. 

'* In compliance with the request, contained in 
your letter of the 21st instant, for information rela- 
tive to the number of men who enlisted and served 
in the Mexican War, and the number of casualties 
among them, I am directed by the Acting Secretary 
of War to advise you as follows : 

' ' It appears from a report of the Adjutant Gen- 
eral, dated December 3, 1849, and published in 
Executive Document No, 24, House of Representa- 
tives, 31st Congress, 1st Session, with certain addi- 
tions compiled from the official records on file in 
this office, that there were 74,188 volunteers and 
26,922 regulars, making a total of 101,110 officers 
and men received into the service of the United 
States during the War with Mexico. This does not 
include the strength of the regular army (7,365 

265 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

officers and men) at the commencement of the 
war. 

'' From the sources indicated above it has been 
ascertained that the 74,188 volunteers were enlisted 
for terms of service as follows : 

" For three months 1,390 officers and men 

For six months (held for three 

months only) 11,211 

For twelve months 27,063 " " 

During the war with Mexico 34,524 " " 

" It is shown by the report of the Adjutant Gen- 
eral referred to above that 844 of the twelve-months 
volunteers were reenlisted, or ' remustered,' and, 
consequently, are counted twice in that report. 
There is no doubt but that some of the 1,390 three- 
months volunteers, and also some of the 11,211 six- 
months volunteers, and probably more than 844 of 
the 27,063 twelve-months volunteers were subse- 
quently enlisted ' for the war,' and, consequently, 
are counted twice in the tables. But their numbers 
can not be ascertained and, therefore, the number 
of individuals received into the military service of 
the United States during the War with Mexico can 
not be definitely determined. 

' ' It also appears, from the same sources, that the 
losses sustained by the army of the United States 
during that war were as follows : 
266 



WHAT IT COST 



NATXratE or CASTTALTIES. 

Died, total 

Killed in action 

Died of wounds 

Ordinary deaths 

Accidental deaths 

Discharged, total 

For disability 

By civil authority 

By order 

Resigned 

Wounded in action 

Deserted 



Volunteers. 


Regulars. 


7,078 


5,818 


514 


530 


100 


405 


6,272 


4,714 


192 


169 


9,220 


3,036 


7,200 


2,549 


206 


77 


1,814 


410 


327 


129 


1,318 


2,075 


3,976 


2,849 



12,896 

1,044 

505 

10,986 

361 

12,256 

9,749 

283 

2,224 

456 

3,393 

6,825 



" It is stated in the report of the Adjutant Gen- 
eral, referred to above, that ' It is believed that 
many who died of wounds are reported as cases of 
ordinary deaths.' It is also stated that ' The dis- 
charges on account of disease or disability, and the 
number of ordinary deaths reported to the Adjutant 
General's Office, and exhibited in the table, must 
be much less than the actual loss, owing to missing 
muster-rolls and returns, which could never be 
obtained, although repeatedly written for to com- 
manders of regiments and corps. ' 

*' Very respectfully, 

*' F. C. AiNSWORTH, 

** The Military Secretary.^ ^ 
19 267 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

I am infonned by letter from the Secretary 
of the Navy that similar figures for the Navy 
are not available. There were in all probabil- 
ity, however, about eight thousand seamen and 
marines in the service of the country, of whom 
probably not more than two hundred and fifty 
were killed in action. 

There are still on the pension roll of the 
United States the surprising number of thir- 
teen thousand pensioners of the Mexican War. 
Five thousand of these are survivors, the 
rest widows. The number of pensioners is 
diminishing at the rate of about eight hundred 
a year, mostly among the survivors. Owing 
to the pernicious practice, at one time widely 
prevalent, and which perhaps still obtains to 
some degree, of young women marrying old 
veterans on the verge of the grave, for the sake 
of a dependent widow's pension, the number 
of widows on the roll is apt to show little de- 
crease for some time. And we will probably 
still be paying pensions on account of this 
costly experiment in unrighteousness for tweu- 
268 



WHAT IT COST 

ty years to come, or three-quarters of a cen- 
tur}^ after the war was tenninated ! ^ 

^ The last report of the Commissioner of Pensions shows 
three widows of Revolutionary soldiers, one survivor of the 
War of 1812, and nine hundred and eighteen widows of sol- 
diers who fought in that war, still on the rolls and drawing 
pensions I 



269 



CHAPTER XV 
CONCLUDING REMARKS 






1 



CHAPTER XV 

CONCLUDING REMARKS 

The discussion of the future settlement of 
the Southwest, the development of the country, 
the methods by which states were created and 
delimited, falls outside the scope of this mono- 
graph. Yet the story would not be complete 
without at least a brief reference to the tempo- 
rary settlement of that question, which, accord- 
ing to my view, was back of the whole under- 
taking, i.e., the slavery question. 

In the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, nothing 
was said about slavery in the newly acquired 
territory. The matter was ignored. Much 
had been said and much continued to be said in 
Congress and in the United States, however, 
for four years from the beginning of the war, 
or until the famous Compromise of 1850. 

At the request of President Polk, transmit- 
273 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

ted by his message of August 7, 1846, a bill 
authorizing the placing at his disposal of a 
sum of money to be used by him as an ad- 
vance payment in purchasing territory from 
the Mexican government, in case he should be 
able to terminate the war, was introduced in 
Congress. Representative David Wilmot, of 
Pennsylvania, offered an amendment to the bill 
which provided, " that neither slavery nor in- 
voluntary servitude shall ever exist in any 
part of said territory, except for crime, whereof 
the party shall first be duly convicted." This 
amendment is known in history as " The Wil- 
mot Proviso." The amended bill passed the 
House, but failed in the Senate. Early in the 
following year a similar bill, with the same 
amendment, appropriating three million dol- 
lars for the same purpose again passed the 
House, but the amendment was stricken out in 
the Senate as before, and the House finally 
agreed to it. Some of the reasons for these 
senatorial rejections are given in the words of 
Thomas H. Benton, as quoted by Roosevelt : 
274 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 

** Benton's position on the Wilmot Proviso is 
worth giving in his own words: ' That measure 
was rejected again as heretofore, and by the votes 
of those who were opposed to extending slavery 
into the territories, because it was unnecessary and 
inoperative — irritating to the slave States, without 
benefit to the free States, a mere work of superero- 
gation, of which the fruit was discontent. It was 
rejected, not on the principle of non-intervention; 
not on the principle of leaving to the territories 
to do as they pleased on the question, but because 
there had been intervention; because Mexican law 
and constitution had intervened, had abolished sla- 
very by law in those dominions ; which law would 
remain in force until repealed by Congress. All 
that the opponents to the extension of slavery had 
to do, then, was to do nothing. And they did 
nothing.' "^ 

Senator Lewis Cass, of Michigan, also op- 
posed the proviso : 

'^ His reasons were six: 1. The present was not 
the time to introduce a sectional topic. 2. It would 
be quite in season to provide for the government of 

* American Statesmen, xxiii: Thomas H. Benton, by Theo- 
dore Roosevelt. 

275 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

a territory after it was obtained. 3. Any such pro- 
viso expressed too much confidence in the outcome 
of the war. 4. Legislation at that time would be 
inoperative, and not binding on succeeding Con- 
gresses. 5. The adoption of the proviso might 
bring the war to an untimely issue. 6. It would 
prevent the acquisition of a single foot of territory, 
and thus disappoint a vast majority of the Ameri- 
can people. " ^ 

The out-and-out opponents of slavery, the 
" Abolitionists," as they began to call them- 
selves, supported the proviso vigorously, and 
although temporarily defeated they persisted 
in their efforts again and again with increas- 
ing zeal and determination. The matter was 
not settled, therefore ; like Banquo's ghost, it 
would not down. Efforts to force the adop- 
tion of the proviso in various forms were re- 
newed at every possible opportunity. Abra- 
ham Lincoln once said, " that he had voted for 
the principle of the Wilmot Proviso ' about 

* American Statesmen, xxiv: Lewis Cass, by Andrew C. 
McLaughlin. 

276 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 

forty-two times/ which, if not an accurate 
mathematical computation, was a vivid ex- 
pression of his stanch adherence to the doc- 
trine " ^ and also an indication of the fre- 
quency with which the opponents of slavery 
endeavored to secure its passage in some 
shape. 

Polk was succeeded in the Presidency by the 
Whig candidate. General Zachary Taylor, the 
hero of Buena Vista. The most important 
question before the new administration was 
whether California, which had been filled with 
American settlers, and which had developed 
enormously under the stimulus afforded by 
the discovery of gold, should be admitted as a 
free or a slave-holding state. 

The matter had come up previously in 1848 
over the question of territorial governments 
for Oregon, New Mexico and California. A 
conference committee of the House and Senate 
" reported a bill, providing territorial govern- 

* American Statesmen, xxt : Abraham Lincoln, by John T. 
Morse, Jr. 

277 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

ments for Oregon, New Mexico, and Califor- 
nia, which prohibited slavery in Oregon, but 
left the question whether the Constitution per- 
mitted slavery in California and New Mexico 
to be decided by the territorial courts, with 
the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of 
the United States. The bill passed in the Sen- 
ate, but was tabled in the House. Thereupon 
the House prepared and sent to the Senate a 
bill prohibiting slavery in Oregon, to which 
the Senate added an amendment carrying the 
Missouri Compromise line of 36° 30' N. from 
the 100th meridian to the Pacific. The House 
disagreed with the amendment; whereupon 
the Senate, on the last day of the session gave 
way, and passed the bill, with the express 
prohibition of slavery." ^ 

Although a Southerner and a slave-holder, 
Taylor recommended the admission of Cali- 
fornia as a free state, its citizens having de- 
clared their desire and intention, so far as 

* The Cambridge Modern History: The United States, vol. 
vii, chap. xii. 

278 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 

they could do so by adopting a free-state con- 
stitution, not to allow slavery within its 
borders. 

This, when Oregon would be admitted, 
would destroy the carefully preserved balance 
of power in the Senate between the free and 
the slave-holding states. And the contest 
raged with greater acrimony and bitterness 
than any previous struggle that had been 
engendered and discussed between different 
sections or different political parties. 

It was finally decided by the Compromise of 
1850. The aged veteran, Henry Clay, emerged 
from his retirement and accepted a seat in the 
Senate to do what he could to bring peace and 
harmony into the councils of the warring sec- 
tions. 

On January 29, 1850, to meet the difficulties 
of the situation, Clay introduced a series of 
eight resolutions to be followed by appropriate 
bills, the intent of which was to compromise 
the conflicting claims of North and South. 
Says Carl Schurz: 

279 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

'' The first declared that California should be 
speedily admitted as a State — of course, with her 
free-state constitution; the second, that, as slavery 
did not by law exist and was not likely to be 
introduced in any of the territories acquired from 
Mexico, Congress should provide territorial govern- 
ments for New Mexico and Utah, without any re- 
striction as to slavery, thus sacrificing the Wilmot 
Proviso, without, however, authorizing slave-hold- 
ers to take their slaves there, thus adjourning the 
slavery question as to those territories to a future 
day; the third and fourth, that a boundary line 
between Texas and New Mexico should be fixed, 
giving to Texas but little of the New Mexican terri- 
tory she claimed, but granting her a certain sum 
of money for the payment of that part of her pub- 
lic debt for which, during her independent exist- 
ence, her customs revenue had been pledged; the 
fifth, that it was expedient to abolish slavery in the 
District of Columbia without the consent of Mary- 
land, etc. ; the sixth, that the slave trade in the Dis- 
trict should be prohibited ; the seventh, that a more 
effectual fugitive-slave law should be enacted ; and 
the eighth, that Congress had no power to prohibit 
or obstruct the trade in slaves between the slave- 
holding States. The preamble declared the pur- 
pose of these resolutions to be ' for peace, concord, 

280 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 

and harmony of these States, to settle and adjust 
amicably all existing questions of controversy be- 
tween them arising out of the institution of slavery 
upon a fair, equitable, and just basis. ' " ^ 

On this subject Professor McLaughlin has 
written : 

"' There was great discontent concerning the va- 
rious proposals of Clay's compromise measure. 
One objected to one clause and another to another 
clause, and finally the whole subject was, on April 
13th, referred to a select committee of thirteen, of 
which Clay was chairman and Cass was a member. 
On May 8th this committee reported, and recom- 
mended three bills. The first provided for three 
distinct objects : the immediate admittance of Cali- 
fornia [as a free State, of course. — C. T. B.] ; the 
establishment of territorial governments for New 
Mexico and Utah, with the stipulation that the 
territorial legislature should pass no law with ref- 
erence to slavery [and providing that when fit to 
be received as a State each might come in with or 
without slavery as her constitution might deter- 
mine. — C. T. B.] ; the settlement of the boundary 

^American Statesmen, xx: Henry Clay, vol. ii, by Carl 
Schurz. 

281 



CONQUEST OF TEE SOUTHWEST 

of Texas, and the payment to that State of a sum 
of money [ten million dollars. — C. T. B.] as a 
recompense for giving up her claim to part of Mex- 
ico. The second bill provided for the return of 
fugitive slaves [the odious ^ Fugitive Slave Law.' 
— C. T. B.] ; the third, for the discontinuance of 
the slave trade in the District of Columbia. ' ' ^ 

The debate on these resolutions was one of 
the greatest ever heard in Congress. The 
speeches of Clay, Seward, Webster, Calhoun 
— the latter too feeble to speak, but sustained 
by his indomitable will in spite of a mortal ill- 
ness, forcing himself to write, and to occupy 
his chair in the Senate while another read, his 
final plea — were among the most brilliant and 
thoughtful orations in our political history. 

*' Calhoun had suffered for some time from an 
acute pulmonary affection, which had recently be- 
come aggravated by a heart disease. He himself 
was no more able to address the Senate for any 
length of time. On March 4, 1850, his carefully 
prepared speech was read by Mr. Mason, of Vir- 

^ American Statesmen, xxiv: Lewis Cass, by Andrew C. 
McLaughlin. 

282 



CONCLUDING REMARKS 

ginia, to the Senate. Every Senator listened with 
profound attention and unfeigned emotion; the 
galleries were hushed into the deepest silence by 
the extraordinary scene, which had something of 
the impressive solemnity of a funeral ceremony. ' ' ^ 

People came from far and near to hear these 
speeches, especially that of Henry Clay. The 
three bills referred to above were passed dur- 
ing August, 1850. A temporary settlement 
was thus effected, the North gaining more by 
it than the South. 

Here my chronicle ends. Suffice to say that 
a further and more definite settlement of the 
great question of slavery was postponed to 
be fought out between Fort Sumter and Ap- 
pomattox. The relation of the black man to 
the white was changed by the Civil War and 
the passage of the constitutional amendments 
resulting therefrom. But the change was not 
so material as it was at first hoped and be- 

^ American Statesmen, xxii: John C. Calhoun, by Dr. H. 
Von Hoist. 

20 283 



CONQUEST OF THE SOUTHWEST 

lieved to be. Slavery has vanished, but the 
question involved in the presence of the negro 
in this country is still with us ; it is one of our 
gravest problems and demands settlement 
from the best blood, the sanest thought and 
the highest patriotism of the Republic. Some- 
times I despair of its satisfactory solution, and 
yet I know that in His own good time God 
will raise up a leader for us who will show 
us the way. Meantime, it behooves us, by our 
own honest consecrated endeavors, to do our 
best to fit ourselves at least to follow intelli- 
gently that leading when it comes. 



284 



INDEX 



Adams-Onis Treaty with 
Spain, 22; signed, 25, 51. 

Adams, John Quincy, 22, 162, 
178. 

Alaman, Mexican Secretary 
of State, 39. 

Alamo, Spanish Mission, 101 ; 
its fall, 108; its heroic de- 
fense, 108; monmnent to 
its defenders, 109. 

Alaska, cost of, 263. 

Almonte, Colonel, 131. 

Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda, 
first Spaniard in territory, 
18. 

American artillery, superior- 
ity of, 196, 216. 

American colonists in Texas, 
26. 

Ampudia, General Pedro de, 
88, 193. 

Anahuac, 41, 42. 

Annexation" of Texas, 148, 
153, 168; opposition to it, 
153. 

Arbitration of Mexican claims, 
175. 

Archer, Branch T., 60. 

Arista, General Mariano, 194. 



Austin, John, 42, 44. 

Austin, Moses, 25; death of, 
27. 

Austin, Stephen Fuller, birth 
of, 25; goes to Texas, 28; 
elected president of con- 
vention, 45; goes to Mex- 
ico, 46; arrested and im- 
prisoned, 47; opposes 
creation of territorial gov- 
ernment, 50; address at 
Brazoria, 52; commander- 
in-chief, 56; death of, 138; 
memorabilia of, by G. M. 
Bryan, 139; eulogy by 
Bancroft, 141. 



Balance of power in the 

South, 150. 
Bancroft's North American 

States and Texas, 83, 141. 
Bastrop, Baron de, 26, 27. 
Beauregard, P. G. T., 217. 
Benton, Thomas H., quoted, 

7, 208, 274. 
Bonham, James Butler, 105. 
Boundary between Spanish 

possessions and the United 



285 



INDEX 



States, 21, 22; line estab- 
lished, 23. 

Boundaries between Mexico 
and Texas, 178, 230, 244. 

Bowie, Colonel James, de- 
scription of, 58, 102; his 
death, 108. 

Bradbum, a renegade Ken- 
tuckian, 41. 

Bryan's History of Texas, 
quotation from, on charac- 
ter of Austin, 139. 

Bravo, triumvir of Mexico, 
29. 

Buena Vista, battle of, 213; 
American loss at, 217. 

Bumet, David G., president 
of provincial government, 

97. 
Burr, Aaron, 22, 133. 
Bustamante, General, 39, 43; 

deposed, 44. 
Butler, Anthony, 49, 51. 

Cabeza de Vaca, 18. 

Calhoun, John C, 8, 162, 164, 
282. 

California, seizure of, 10, 146; 
cession of, 234, 235; ad- 
mission as a State, 280. 

Cass, Lewis, quoted, 275. 

Cerro Gordo, battle of, 217; 
American loss at, 218; 
Mexican loss, 218. 

Chapultepec, battle at, 220, 
221, 222, 223. 

Chihuahua, seizure of, 224. 



Chilling worth. Captain, 56. 
Churubusco, battle of, 219. 
Cincinnati Company, 86. 
Claiborne, Colonel D. D., 

quoted, 72. 
Claims, United States against 

Mexico, 174; settled by 

treaty, 176. 
Clay, Henry, 167, 200, 279, 

283. 
Coahuila-Texas, 31; obnox- 
ious laws passed by, 41; 

capital of, 53. 
Coleta River, battle of, 114. 
Colonists, in Texas, 26, 27, 

32; committees of safety 

organized, 54. 
Commissioners to the United 

States from Texas, 63. 
Compromise of 1850, 169, 

273. 
Concepcion, fight at, 59. 
Connor, Commodore David, 

209. 
Constitution of Texas, 97, 

135. 
Consultation organization,60, 

64 ; reassembled in March, 

1836, 90. 
Corpus Christi, 54. 
Corwin, Thomas, speech of, 

182. 
Cos, General, 53, 57, 81, 84, 

85. 
Crockett, David, birth of, 
103; schooling, 103; in 

Creek War, 103; in State 



286 



INDEX 



Legislature and Congress, 
104; killed at the Alamo, 
108. 

Davis, Colonel Jefferson, 215. 
Decatur, Stephen, 201. 
Declaration of delegates, 61. 
de Iturbide, Augustin, 29, 43. 
Democratic party, 153, 202. 
de Soto, Hernando, 18. 
Doniphan, Colonel, 224. 

Edwards, Benjamin, 33; proc- 
lamation of, 34. 

EUiott, Sarah Barnwell, 
quoted, 72. 

Ellis, Powhatan, American 
minister to Mexico, 174. 

Elson, Dr. Henry William, 
146. 

Empresarios, 28, 32, 33, 50. 

Fannin, Captain J. W., 57, 

59, 104; his appeal to the 

convention, 105, 109, 111; 

at battle of Coleta River, 

112; death of, 119. 
Filibustering expeditions, 20; 

to Tampico, 87. 
FiHsola, General, 134. 
Fiske, John, quoted, 161. 
Florida, cession of, to the 

United States, 23. 
Fort at Goliad, captured by 

Texans, 56. 
Fort Brown, 193, 196. 
Fort Defiance, 112. 
Franciscan Missions, 18, 22. 



Fredonia Repubhc, 34, 35. 
Fredonian War, 33. 
Fremont, John C, in Califor- 
nia, 224. 

Gadsden Purchase, 31, 145, 

247. 
Gaines, General Edmund P., 

90; 156. 
Gaona, General, 88. 
Garay, Colonel, 118. 
Garrison, George P., quoted, 

18, 136. 
Georgia battahon, 113. 
Goliad, 20; seized by Texans, 

56; massacre at, 119. 
Gonzales, settlement of, 54; 

compared with Lexington, 

55. 
Grand Canyon of the Colo- 
rado River, 249. 
Grant, General U. S., Heu- 

tenant in Scott's army, 

223; memoirs of, 222, 223, 

224. 
Grass Fight, 82. 
Guadalupe Hidalgo, treaty 

of, 242, 273. 
Guerrero, President, 39. 

Halleck, Henry W., 217. 
Harrison, William Henry, 

159. 
Hart, Albert Bushnell, 111, 

185. 
Hawaii, annexation of, 169. 
Hernando de Soto, 18. 



287 



INDEX 



Herrera, President of Mex- 
ico, 22, 167. 

Houston, General Sam, elect- 
ed commander - in - chief, 
64 ; .reelected, 97 ; biog- 
raphy of, 67; birth, 68; 
education of, 68; as a 
clerk, 69; joins the Chero- 
kee Indians, 69 ; as a school- 
teacher, 69; enlists in the 
army, 70; at the battle of 
Horseshoe Bend, 70; his 
dress, 71; Governor of 
Tennessee, 71; United 
States Senator, 72; sepa- 
rated from his wife, 72 ; re- 
joins Cherokees, 72; his 
dissipated habits, 73; his 
conversion, 73; reluctance 
to duehng, 74; his wit, 74; 
commissioner to the In- 
dians, 75; his manner 
toward ladies, 76; states- 
man and orator, 77; his 
death, 77; his retreat be- 
fore Santa Anna, 123, 124, 
125; in contempt, 126; as- 
sumes the offensive, 127; 
his victory at San Jacinto, 
133; elected President of 
the Texan Republic, 134. 

Hurd, Captain, 48. 

Indians, 54; number in Texas, 

1835, 89, 249. 
Jackson, Andrew, 51 ; letter 

to William B. Lewis, 151. 



Jalapa, seizure of, 218. 

Jay, William, quotation from 

his Review of the Mexican 

War, 176, 182. 
Johnston, Joseph E., 218. 
Jones, Anson, 135, 170. 
Jones, Commodore Thomas 

Ap Catesby, 157. 

Kearney, General Stephen 
W., 224. 

La Bahia, 20, 56. 

Lamar, Mirabeau Bonaparte, 
130, 131; elected President 
of the Texan Republic, 135. 

Lee, Robert E., 217. 

Lepantitlan, fight at, 82. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 199, 276. 

Long, filibuster, 20; assassin- 
ated, 21. 

Long's Republic, 21. 

Louisiana Purchase, 6, 9, 152, 
255, et seq. ; estimated 
population in 1900, 258. 

Louisiana territory ceded to 
Spain, 19; receded to 
France, 19; purchased by 
the United States, 19; 
western boundary, 19. 

Magee, filibuster, 20. 
"Manifest Destiny," 6, 10. 
Matamoras, 193; seizure of, 

198. 
McCauley, Edward, 259. 
McClellan, George B., 218. 



288 



INDEX 



McLaughlin, Andrew C, 
quoted, 276, 281. 

McMaster, John Bach, 153. 

Mexia, Mexican commission- 
er, 44. 

Mexican commissioners, prop- 
osition of, 231. 

Mexican Confederacy, 61. 

Mexican Constitution of 1824, 
61. 

Mexican Federal Constitu- 
tion, 31. 

Mexican Government, in- 
stability of, 5 ; on the ques- 
tion of slavery, 10; forbade 
importation of slaves, 32 ; 
abolishes slavery, 33; first 
conflict with colonists, 35. 

Mexican Military Academy, 
222. 

Mexican state of Texas, 5. 

Mexican triumvirate, 29. 

Mexican War, its causes, 145; 
Wilcox's history of, 194; 
first skirmish, 195; prose- 
cuted vigorously, 202 ; cost 
of, 259-262 ; pensioners of, 
268. 

Mexico, City of, campaign 
against, 219; capture of, 
223. 

Mexico, her crimes and ex- 
cesses, 11; becomes inde- 
pendent, 29; constitution 
of 1824, 52 ; population in, 
1835, 89; severs relations 
with the United States, 



171; claims against, 174; 

invasion of, by the United 

States, 192. 
Milam, Benjamin R.,56; dis- 
tinguished in war of 1812; 

82; trading with Indians, 

82; opposed Iturbide and 

imprisoned, 83; his escape, 

83; his death, 84. 
Miller, Captain, 117; his final 

appeal to the army, 83. 
Missions, Franciscan, 18. 
Mississippi River, first white 

settlement on, 18. 
Missouri Compromise, 8, 169, 

273, 278. 
Molinos del Rey, battle of, 

221. 
Monterey, seizure of, 157. 
Monterey, Mexico, capture 

of, 203. 
Moore, John H., 55, 56. 

Nacogdoches, 20, 35; seizure 
of, 156. 

Naval force on Gulf of Mex- 
ico, 209. 

New Mexico, 146, 245. 

New Orleans Battalion, 86. 

Nolan, filibuster, 20. 

Oregon question, 190. 

Palo Alto, 196. 

Parades, General, elected 

President of Mexico, 174. 
Paris, Treaty of, in 1783, 3. 
Paris, Treaty of, in 1898, 3. 



289 



INDEX 



Peace commission after Mex- 
ican War, 242. 

Peace Party, 45. 

Peace proposition to Mexico, 
229. 

Peace, treaty of, with Mexico, 
242. 

Pedraza, General, President 
of the Mexican Republic, 
45. 

Perote, fortress of, 218. 

Perry, Commodore Matthew 
Calbraith, 210. 

Philippines, cost of, 263. 

Piedras, Colonel, 42. 

Pillow, General, 221. 

Poinsett, Joel R., 51. 

Political domination in the 
South, 9. 

Polk, James K., elected Presi- 
dent of the United States, 
167, 169, 172; special mes- 
sage of, 199; calls for vol- 
unteers, 200. 

Portilla, Colonel, 117. 

Presidential campaign of, 
1844, 167. 

Puebla, 218. 

Querataro, 246. 

Quitman, General, 221, 223. 

Resaca de la Palma, battle 

of, 196. 
Rio Grande River, 244. 
Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la 

Salle, 19. 



Roosevelt, Theodore, quoted, 

6. 
"Runaway Scrape," 126. 
Rusk, Thomas J., 130. 



SaltiUo, 53, 212, 213. 

San Antonio de Bexar, 20, 57. 

San Antonio, siege of, 81, 82; 
assault on, 84. 

San Felipe de Austin, 30, 60. 

San Jacinto, battle of, 129; its 
great importance, 132. 

San Luis Potosi, 211, 212. 

Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez 
de, 43, 45; elected Presi- 
dent of the Mexican Re- 
public, 46; purpose to 
make himself dictator, 52, 
53; his reply to Texans, 54; 
61, 88, 101 ; universally ex- 
ecrated, 109, 117; supreme 
in Texas, 123, 126; attacks 
Houston, 128; capture of, 
132; brought from exile 
and elected President of 
Mexico, 211; assumes com- 
mand of army, 211; attacks 
General Taylor, 213; his 
wooden leg, 218. 

Schurz, Carl, quoted, 178, 
200, 279, 281. 

Scott, Major General Win- 
field, 207, 208, 209, 210, 
212,216,217,218; his offer 
of peace to Mexico, 219, 
221, 223, 225. 



290 



INDEX 



Senate resolution, 169. 
Sesma General, 88. 
Shephard, Seth, History of 

Texas, 17. 
Slave-holding states, 4, 6. 
Slavery, action of Mexican 

government on, 10 ; in 

Texas, 33; established in 

Texas, 97, 150, 191, 273. 
Slaves, importation of, 32, 97. 
Slidell, Alexander, appointed 

minister to Mexico, 172; 

not recognized by Mexico, 

173. 
Smith, H. W., 63; elected 

Governor of Texas, 97. 
Spoliation of foreign terri- 
tory by the United States, 

8. 
Statistics, 256, 260, 261, 262, 

267. 
Storey, Moorfield quoted, 

152. 
Submission Party, 60. 
Sumner, William G., quoted, 

151. 



Taylor, General Zachary, 179, 
191, et seq.; his famous des- 
patch, 217; elected Presi- 
dent of the United States, 
277. 

Teran, General, 40. 

Territory acquired from Mex- 
ico, 232; payment for, 245, 
255; cost of, 259. 



Territory ceded by Mexico, 
245; extent of, 247. 

Texan army, bad discipline 
of. 111. 

Texan flag of 1824, 106. 

Texan prisoners, slaughter of, 
119. 

Texan revolution, causes of, 
9; beginnings of, 39. 

Texan troops, 86. 

Texas, revolution against 
Mexico, 5; independence of, 
assured, 5; republic inevi- 
table, 10; derivation of 
name, 17; under six flags, 
17; history of, Shephard's, 
17; Bryan's, 49; Yoakum's, 
58; slavery in, 10, 30; made 
a penal settlement, 39; 
beginning of war of inde- 
pendence, 55; capital of, 
60; declaration of inde- 
pendence, 81, 90; consti- 
tution of, adopted, 97; 
population in 1835, 89; 
evacuation by the Mexi- 
cans, 134; threatened with 
bankruptcy, 136; officially 
recognized by the United 
States, 136; annexation of, 
148; relation to Mexico, 
155; admission as a state, 
170, 171, 192. 

Thornton, Captain, 195. 

Tolsa, General, 88. 

Travis, Colonel William Bar- 
rett, 41, 42, 101 1 his call 



291 



INDEX 



for aid, 105; decides to 
hold the Alamo, 107; his 
death, 108. 

Treaty between Texas and 
the United States, 164. 

Treaty of 1819 with Spain, 
152. 

Treaty of 1828 with Mexico, 
152. 

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 
273. 

Treaty of Paris in 1783, 3. 

Treaty of Paris in 1898, 3. 

Treaty of peace between Mex- 
ico and the United States, 
241, 242; ratification of, 
246. 

Treaties and conventions be- 
tween the United States 
and other powers, 24, 245. 

Trist, Nicholas P., U. S. Com- 
missioner to Mexico, 219, 
220, 229, 237, 241, 242, 
243, 244. 

Turtle Bayou Resolutions, 44. 

Twiggs, General, 221. 

"Twin Sisters," 127, 131. 

Tyler, John, 6, 159, 160, 161; 
signs resolution to annex 
Texas, 169. 

Tyler, Lyon Gardner, quoted, 
161. 

Ugartechea, Colonel, 42, 54, 

55. 
United States, conduct of, in 

the conquest of the South- 



west, 4; condemned for 
spoliation of territory, 8; 
her vacillation, 11; claims 
of, in the Southwest, 19; 
breaches of neutrality, 86; 
attitude of, toward the 
Texan war with Mexico, 
87; violations of interna- 
tional law, 156; claims 
against Mexico, 174; agrees 
to arbitration of claims, 
175; attitude toward Eng- 
land and Mexico, 191. 

Upshur, Abel P., 152, 158; 
death of, 162. 

Urrea, General, 109, 110, 112, 
117. 

Van Buren, Martin, 159. 
Vasquez de Coronado, 18. 
Velasco, attack upon, 42. 
Vera Cruz, siege of, 210. 
Victoria Guadalupe, triumvir 

of Mexico, 29. 
Von Hoist, Dr. H., quoted, 

163, 283. 

War of Independence in Tex- 
as, history of, 63. 

War Party of 1832 in Texas, 
45, 60, 61. 

War with Mexico, causes of, 
145; history of, 194; cost 
of, 259, 260, 261, 262; 
number of troops, 266; 
casualties, 267 ; pensioners, 
268. 



292 



INDEX 



War of the Revolution, cost 
of, 263. 

Webster, Daniel, quoted, 152. 

Wharton, William H., 45, 46. 

Whig Party, 153, 202. 

Wilcox, General C. M., his- 
tory of Mexican War, 194, 
230, 236. 

Wilkinson, General, 22. 

Williams, Alfred M., quoted 
from his Sam Houston and 
the War of Independence 
in Texas, 63. 75, 98, 101. 



Wilmot, David, 274. 
Wilmot Proviso, 274, 276. 
Wise, Henry A., 162; speech 

of, 180. 
Wonders of the new territory, 

249. 
Wool, General John E., 214, 

215. 
Worth, General, 203, 221. 
Wright, Major Norris, 57. 



Zavala, Lorenzo de, 98. 



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